TV advertising has become more diverse than just live commercials on your television.
With the big boom of numerous streaming sites, advertising has, in a way, adapted to this new medium.
One of these sites that are synonymous with advertising would be Hulu.
Hulu is a top leading tv streaming platform, aside from others like Roku, Netflix, and Disney+.
They have used ads for live and on-demand streaming subscriptions.
As a result, their form of tv advertising works because when it comes to commercials, they give the customer complete control of what they watch.
Interested in Hulu advertising but don’t know where to start?
Don’t worry!
Today, we will go over the basics of advertising with Hulu, how to do it and what kinds of ads they offer that you can utilize and enhance your level of advertising.
Can You Advertise With Hulu?
Yes! Hulu offers a self-service advertising platform so your advertisements can reach out to potential customers for your business.
There are, of course, factors to consider when getting started with advertising on Hulu.
For instance, they offer different types of ads, and you have to think about pricing and budgeting, ad management, and how to reach out to your target audience.
What Is Hulu Advertising?
Before learning how you can advertise on Hulu, we would first have to go over what Hulu ads entails and what manages this specific section.
Hulu is one of the many streaming services that offer live tv and on-demand services, mainly shown on internet-connected devices.
With this in mind, like regular tv, Hulu utilizes 30-second commercial spots for its services.
Not only that but Hulu also uses over-the-top advertising (OTT) to bypass tv provider restrictions or schedules.
Hulu Ad Manager
With the importance of advertising, Hulu constructs a self-service solution called Hulu Ad Manager to help you keep track, manage and activate your advertisements.
Hulu Ad Managers allows you to manage your business with ads in an organized way.
Hulu Ad Manager helps your business’s advertisements reach out to your specific audience.
This tool helps with using various marketing tools to help promote your business.
You can control what advertisements your customers see and how you can strengthen your marketing strategy.
Disney Advertising
What does Disney have to do with advertising?
Believe it or not, Hulu is a part of Disney’s hub of advanced advertising solutions, even as far as bundling both Hulu and Disney as one of their subscription plans.
Aside from their customer subscriptions, they have enhanced their skills in marketing when it comes to advertisement.
Disney took complete control of Hulu in 2019.
Since then, as Hulu has its ad manager, Disney has implemented its ad and marketing organizing tool, Disney Select, which allows businesses to advertise to specific customers based on their algorithm, buyer interaction, and general behavior.
Why Advertise on Hulu?
Advertising is not just limited to television and word of mouth anymore.
Tv advertisements have, in a way, evolved since the introduction of several streaming services.
As a result, customers can see live tv, on-demand movies, Hulu originals, and other network shows on any of their electronic devices.
Having the ability to advertise on Hulu grants your business a chance to market and grow your customer range.
By using its ad manager, Hulu has made managing advertisements for your business not only accessible but easy to use as well.
As a result, it proves as highly effective in reaching your customers and makes it more likely for them to engage in your content afterward.
Wide Reach
Hulu’s steadily growing popularity increases the broad reach of viewers that can benefit your business.
More well known, large companies produce its advertisements.
However, due to its advertising service being open to smaller to medium-size companies, advertising can help diversify and grow your company by sales and customers due to the widespread amount of users Hulu has overall.
Hulu Users
If you are skeptical that your advertisements will reach a significant amount of your target audience, don’t worry!
As of now, Hulu has approximately 45.3 million paid subscribers currently using its streaming service.
If you are a Hulu user yourself, you know how constant the commercial spots are, so imagine one of those advertisements is for your own business.
Hulu Ad Selector
One of the popular features that Hulu offers is the ad selector.
Here’s how it works: first, a screen will ask which commercial you would like to view, giving you two to three advertisements.
The ads are about 15 seconds long, and if you do not select one in 10 seconds, it will randomly pick one for you.
The Ad Selector feature is beneficial for your business because if you have an ad selector for your advertisements, this provides an opportunity for active engagement for potential customers.
What Kinds of Ads You Can Run on Hulu
Ad Selectors are one of the many options you can choose from when managing your advertisements on Hulu.
These options, however, are if they are well within your business’s ad campaign budget.
Video Ads
One of the primary standards for advertising on Hulu would be video playing during full-length movies and tv show episodes.
The time frame for these tv ads can be as short as 7-30 seconds long.
Another factor of video ads is referred to as “does not accept stitched ads,” which means if you want to advertise your content that is 30 seconds long, you can’t have two stitched 15-second commercials.
Slate Ads
Slate ads, or Branded slate ads, as they are called, refer to the static, completely blank slate backgrounds with your logo in the center.
Slate Ads typically show before the movie or a tv episode as a voiceover presents your business as a sponsor.
Entertainment Selector Ads
Branded Entertainment Selector Ads, BES for short, refer to when viewers have a choice on their specific viewing experience.
Unlike ad selectors, BES lets the viewer choose if they want to continue with the usual 30-second commercial spot or watch a long commercial.
It’s kind of like a win-win situation for you and the viewer.
The viewer is engaged in your content and can go back to their binge-a-thon.
Ad Selector
As said previously, Ad Selectors grant the option to the viewer to choose their ad experience, which usually means having two or more commercials to pick from.
Either way, the viewer actively engages in your content no matter what they choose.
Binge Ads
Binge ads are advertisements that target people who are currently binge-watching.
They help viewers engage without being distracted by unrelated commercials.
If they’re binge-watching a show, what better way to get their attention than by advertising snacks?
Cover Story Ads
Cover story ads are similar to slate ads.
The only difference is that you integrate the brand with Hulu’s homepage, and it has a “presented by” notation by your business name.
Cover story ads will increase engagement and exposure with potential customers.
GatewayGo Ads
GatewayGo ads are more of a call-to-action type of advertisement.
GatewayGo ads allow your brand to utilize conversion goals to help customers shift from streaming tv to using their mobile devices.
Hulu does this by using QR codes, links, and push notifications.
Pause Ads
Pause ads are non-disruptive yet visible as they allow the viewer to see your advertisement only when they pause what they are watching.
This marketing tool helps advertise your brand without being as intrusive as other advertising types.
How Much Does Hulu Advertising Cost?
So with these advertising types in mind, there comes the topic of how much advertising your business costs.
Here, we will go over the different pricing for advertising on Hulu.
Pricing
Pricing for Hulu ads caters to both big to small businesses when it comes to budgeting for advertisements.
The lowest price for advertising is about $500.
The more expensive ads cost about $100,000 or more, like a cover story or brandslate.
Of course, there are factors to consider:
- Restrictions based on your ad marketing settings.
- Whether you are using Hulu directly or through a second side platform.
- Which type of ad types you use for your company.
- Seasonal costs based on advertising quarterly.
How to Advertise on Hulu
Before you can be an advertiser on Hulu, it is required to have an RSVP form, and once your request is accepted, you will be able to start advertising.
Here’s how it works.
Choosing the Dates
Although Hulu doesn’t allow you to advertise in specific timeframes, it does allow you to market to your target audience.
For instance, you can advertise to a particular set of viewers based on age, gender, and what they stream frequently.
Another factor you can also consider is targeting a specific region or city if you want to advertise locally.
Planning a Budget
Advertising on Hulu is not an inexpensive task, so planning your budget is essential.
As previously mentioned, the lowest cost for Hulu advertisement is $500.
However, it depends on what your budget is for certain ad types.
Upload Your Advertisement
After settling the budget and what ad types are ideal for your business, comes the exciting task of uploading your advertisement.
However, there are a few requirements to meet Hulu’s guidelines:
- Follows Hulu’s ad policies.
- It must be in MOV or MP4 format.
- It must have an HD setting and stereo sound
- It has to be 7-30 seconds long.
Payment And Tracking
Hulu doesn’t take debit cards or business accounts for payment.
However, it does accept credit cards.
If you choose to pause or cancel your ad campaign, you only be charged for the recently delivered impressions.
You can track your analytics and impressions of your advertisement on the ad manager.
Tips for Advertising on Hulu
There are ways to receive more attention in advertising your business on Hulu.
You can find more bang for your professional buck and gain more traction by honing the ad options Hulu has to offer.
Go For a 15 Second Ad
Advertising with Hulu is a synch as it means all you have to do, aside from the budgeting and planning, is upload your advertisement.
Going for a 15-second or shorter ad gives you a specific amount of time to grab the viewer’s attention while also providing information about your business.
Going for a 7-second advertisement might be wise, but with 15 seconds, you can have time to get your message across efficiently and have a more extended engagement with the viewer.
Use Hulu’s Custom Video Program
Sometimes creating an ad yourself can be time and money-consuming.
Fortunately, Hulu has a video program feature so you can create custom videos for your business.
Hulu’s custom video program will help ease the stress of creating an ad yourself.
You will only have to manage the views and the impressions the ad makes.
Stretch Your Budget For Multiple Ads
Budgeting for ads is essential, but you might have enough to stretch out for a few more ads.
For your business to gain attention, it has to attract more views.
So if you stretch your budget to create more ads than just one, be sure to experiment and see what works.
Make an Interactive Ad
Interactive ads are perfect for viewer engagement with your business.
The viewer will be able to click on your ad and be directed to your product page.
Run Your Ad Locally
Although it seems like you are minimizing your engagement, having your ads in a specific region or city will reach out to localized customers.
Wrapping Up
Hulu is an excellent opportunity to display advertisements for your business.
Whether you are just looking for a small advertisement or planning a big splash to increase sales, we hope this guide helps you advertise your business on Hulu.
