Delivering the second part of its bookended presentations to advertisers, Disney on Monday made its case for Hulu as “the most valuable streaming TV partner to today’s biggest brands.”
The established streaming service, which Disney took full control of last year, laid out several new offerings for advertisers, including new format and measurement tools and a unified platform across Disney.
“Streaming is leading one of the most profound consumer behavior shifts in history. For advertisers, streaming TV is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ or ‘a place to test and learn.’ It’s a must have, and it will redefine advertising in the same way that search did twenty years ago,” Hulu president Kelly Campbell said. “Hulu is proven in this space and was made for this very moment: we have the experience, the storytelling, the data and the scale to put television budgets to work, help brands connect authentically with audiences and drive results.”
Disney Advertising Sales President Rita Ferro, who teased the streaming offerings earlier this month when presiding over the TV upfront presentation, emphasized the newly unified ad platform. Called Disney Hulu XP, it will be available October 1 and for the first time will let marketers buy across the full Disney portfolio.
“We pride ourselves on being home to the best sports, entertainment and streaming TV brands in the business and have the unique ability to deliver both massive scale and specific audience targets,” said Rita Ferro, President, Advertising Sales, The Walt Disney Company. “Now, as one platform under Disney Advertising Sales, we have the most powerful capabilities to connect our clients to Generation Stream and to deliver unmatched results across every category.”
Hulu introduced a new ad format called GatewayGo, which marries traditional TV ads with new prompts designed to increase the bond between viewers and brands. It uses technologies like QR codes and push notifications and Hulu said 6 of 10 viewers would likely consider purchasing from an advertiser after they redeem an offer. Nearly 50% say they keep their phones with them as they watch TV.
Measurement continues to vex a lot of marketers as dollars shift toward streaming. In an effort to offer more transparency, Hulu said it is integrating Nielsen Media Impact into its offerings.
Hulu’s NewFront, always a headline act during the week of digital showcases held each spring across New York City, had to shift to a virtual format.
During the presentation, executives also offered a portrait of what they call Generation Stream, a multigenerational group and crosses all age, race, and gender bounds, united in the common behavior of streaming. In a behavioral study, Hulu found that streaming viewers tend to be younger and more affluent than TV viewers, and they’re also more likely to be college educated. About 37% of this population report streaming as their only way of accessing TV programming.
On the programming front, Hulu confirmed Only Murders In The Building as the title of a Steve Martin and Martin Short half-hour project from This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman and 20th Century Fox TV. That show is one of a number of upcoming Hulu originals. The rest of the slate includes Michael Keaton’s Dopesick, Tony Hale’s The Mysterious Benedict Society, Nicole Kidman’s Nine Perfect Strangers, Kate McKinnon’s The Dropout, Amy Schumer’s Love, Beth and Lamorne Morris’ semi-animated live-action series Woke.
FX on Hulu, which launched in March, has upcoming shows including Jeff Bridges’ The Old Man and Kate Mara and Nick Robinson’s A Teacher.
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