7 Tips for Advertising on Hulu and Other Streaming Services

TV advertising isn’t what it used to be.

Cable cutting has reached new heights in our country, leaving the big networks scrambling to figure out how to keep up with streaming. For advertising firms and the businesses that employ them, it complicates things.

Advertising on streaming services is an entirely different beast than advertising on cable. Not all of these platforms have room for the typical 30-second commercial spots, but Hulu advertising does. You’ve got to get a bit creative…but that’s not so bad in the advertising world, is it?

Today, we’re going to go over a few tips for advertising on Hulu and tell you why you don’t need to panic about cable cutting after all. If you want to keep up and get ahead of your competitors, you need to embrace the challenge instead of shying away from it. 

Let us help you lead the charge into a new frontier.

WHAT IS HULU ADVERTISING?

Before we jump into the tips, let’s level set for everyone. Hulu is an on-demand streaming service with a huge selection of movies and television shows that viewers can watch at any time. It also has live TV options as well as ad-supported content – this is where you come in.

Hulu advertising involves creating and placing commercial breaks into their programs, either as pre-roll or mid-roll ads. This is a great way to reach audiences who are already engaged in the content and more likely to pay attention to your message.

WHAT ARE PRE-ROLL ADS?

Pre-roll ads are commercials that play before the selected content begins. They’re typically quite short (15 to 30 seconds) and give viewers time to get comfortable before watching what they wanted to watch.

WHAT ARE MID-ROLL ADS?

Mid-roll ads play during the middle of a video, usually between two commercial breaks. They’re usually a bit longer than pre-roll ads, lasting anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds.

WHICH ADS ARE BETTER TO RUN ON HULU?

Most experts agree that pre-roll ads are the way to go when it comes to Hulu advertising. Studies have shown that viewers have a higher engagement rate with these types of ads than mid-rolls, so if you want your message to be seen and heard, this is where you should focus your efforts.

WHY ADVERTISING ON HULU WORKS

Hulu has become one of the essential streaming services in the world. If you want premium content and prestige television, then you need Hulu.

Its popularity has taken a lot of advertising away from big cable networks, leaving advertisers to come up with engaging ways to appeal to people that are used to watching their programs without interruption. It presents interesting and exciting challenges.

The beauty of Hulu is that it still airs commercials, and they’re very forward-thinking with how to get them in front of an audience that matters. With their choice-based advertising, viewers can get the content that they deem important instead of seeing everything.

This is good for advertisers because, while they get fewer eyes on an ad overall, those who see the ad will be more likely to find the advertisement useful. If you’re shopping for a new car, you can pick car advertisements. If you’re an avid moviegoer, you can see new film ads.

The stats don’t lie, either.

According to Hulu, their ad selector is 150% more effective than regular TV ads at developing recall and 24% better at creating an intent to purchase in viewers.

Actually, a lot of stats support Hulu’s form of advertising. Their Branded Entertainment Selector (BES) allows viewers to choose between watching a long commercial at the beginning of their program or regular interruptions throughout the program.

This, according to Hulu, is nearly 200% more effective at creating top-of-mind awareness. In many ways, Hulu advertising does appear to be far more powerful than regular TV in terms of appealing to customers. 

So, how does it work?

HOW TO ADVERTISE ON HULU

Hulu gives you a few options when building an ad campaign.

You’ll be able to choose between different ad formats, so you can hone in on what your target market is going to respond the most to. It also allows you to work with more budget flexibility. Here are some tips on how to advertise on Hulu.

1. 30, 15, 7-SECOND ADS

One of the amazing things about advertising with Hulu is that all you need to do is create your ad. They’ll handle all of the encoding, hosting, and streaming of the ad. This frees you up to focus on crafting a poignant and appealing advertisement to appeal to your customers.

If you’re so inclined, you can work within the traditional commercial time frame. 15 and 30-second ads are among the most opted-for types. These ones are what people are used to seeing from television advertisers. 

Time is money, so you can also get your message across quickly with one of Hulu’s 7-second advertisements. They’re a great way to begin your relationship with Hulu as an advertising platform and they’re also the cheapest traditional ad.

If you can get your point across in 7-seconds, then why not try this? It takes a lot of creativity, but you can build a lot of brand awareness by having a few different 7-second ads running at a time. 

2. USE CUSTOM VIDEO

If you’re a smaller business, you might not have the resources available to come up with and get an ad made. In these instances, it might be wise to use Hulu’s custom video program.

Hulu will handle the video production for you, so you can focus on running your business, and then you can rest easy knowing that you’ve got ads running. 

3. USE SLATES WISELY

Slates work better as a complementary piece to a video ad. They run at the beginning of a program and are usually a still image with a logo, a voiceover, and a company slogan or a quick-hit product promo.

It basically conveys the image of “this program is brought to you by…”, so you get a quick and effective message across, reminding the audience of your existence. Hulu handles the voiceover themselves, so you just have to send in the text that you want them to read.

4. SPREAD YOUR MONEY AROUND

If you’ve got a budget in mind, figure out how you can stretch it into a few different ads. Sure, you could pour the entire budget into one great one, but if it doesn’t catch your target audience, then you’ve wasted money.

When you’re starting out, it’s better to spread the money around and make a few different ads and see what people respond to. Then, if you notice one ad performs well, you can put more resources into that one.

5. INTERACTIVE ADS

The future of Hulu ads will be with interaction. For Hulu users that are operating on their computers, interactive ads can immediately lead them to your product page.

Giving your viewers the option of engaging with your ad right away can lead to more sales. Instead of putting the ad out there and waiting for results, you can see results in a matter of seconds.

6. LOCAL ADS

If you run a small local business, you might not have considered Hulu as an option for you, seeing as it’s an international streaming tv service. Like with cable, however, Hulu allows local businesses to choose where their advertisement runs using Nielsen DMA.

Hulu guarantees local exclusivity, so you can be sure that your ad is only running in the areas that you want it to.

7. BINGE ADS

Hulu’s ads are designed with brand safety and a positive watching experience in mind. Ad placements have shown that they boost brand awareness by 24%. Binge ads have been shown to increase brand awareness and ad recall by 25%, according to the Kantar Brand Lift Study, 2020, Kennar Brand Lifted Study. The ads “enable marketers to deliver contextually and situationally-relevant messages at the right time and place – during a viewer’s binge session’s binge session,” says one of Hulu’s ad placements.

8. FOLLOW SUGGESTED AD FORMATS

Hulu has plenty of guidance on what kind of ads you should create, what length they should be, and how much money you’ll need to allocate for them.

You can find their suggested formats here: https://home.admanager.hulu.com/tech-specs-for-video-ads/. These are the standards that Hulu suggests in order to get the best results out of your ads.

Overall, Hulu is a great option for advertising, whether you’re a small local business or a large international one. With its low cost and high reach, it can be an excellent way to get your message across and start building brand awareness. And with its interactive ads and creative ad formats, it can help you reach your audience in a way that’s sure to grab their attention.

HULU ADVERTISING OPTIONS

Hulu ads on Hulu are just one option for an ad network. The Hulu ads cost is expected to cost Hulu more or less each time. The price of advertising on Hulu is variable and changes frequently.

Hulu ad cost is different for each advertiser.

The cost of advertising on Hulu depends on the number of video viewers in an area. The more ad impressions you need, the higher cost it would be to advertise on Hulu.

Hulu ads are expected to use advertisers when they are planning their marketing communications through TV and other digital media channels as well. They make sure that some advertisers have a lot of followers on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook, but also YouTube, for example, where they can see how many people view those ads and at what time when they have a large following online then this is very useful information for companies when they buy Hulu ads. 

So if you want your products to be promoted via television via Hulu, then actually promote them right into certain demographic segments that will most likely be interested in your product or services. So when you buy Hulu ads, then it is a very good idea to try your best to promote the right message via TV if your brand wants to reach mass exposure online and offline, then Hulu ads may help you achieve that goal.

Hulu advertising is actually a great way for companies of all kinds and sizes to create awareness for their brands. It also provides them with attractive options like video pre-roll, banner ads on programs, custom videos showcasing important information, pre-recorded commercials, and even hyper-targeted demographics depending on the needs of different organizations around the globe.

So buying Hulu ads can make an impact, especially if they provide advertisers with a variety of options depending on where they want their brands showcased.

HULU AD MEASUREMENT AND OPTIMIZATION

Hulu’s attribution capabilities let advertisers measure brand lift and direct ROI, and business outcomes across QSR, retail, ecommerce, tune-in, automotive, and CPG categories. Hulu is an advertising channel that has scale, is targetable, and is measurable. It’s the best way to reach a mass audience online and offline that is interested in what you have to offer.

Hulu advertising will help companies of all kinds and sizes build awareness for their brands. It also gives them attractive options like video pre-roll, banner ads on programs, custom videos showcasing important information, pre-recorded commercials, and even hyper-targeted demographics depending on the needs of different organizations around the globe. So buying Hulu ads can make an impact, especially if they provide advertisers with a variety of options depending on where they want their brands showcased.

The cost of advertising with Hulu depends on how many viewers there are in an area who get to see your ad when it plays. As more people watch your ad, which is based on your target market and demographics, the higher the cost will be. Hulu advertising is actually a great way for companies of all kinds and sizes to create awareness for their brands.

It also provides them with attractive options like video pre-roll, banner ads on programs, custom videos showcasing important information, pre-recorded commercials, and even hyper-targeted demographics depending on the needs of different organizations around the globe. So buying Hulu ads can make an impact, especially if they provide advertisers with a variety of options depending on where they want their brands showcased.

The cost of advertising with Hulu depends on how many viewers there are in an area who get to see your ad when it plays. As more people watch your ad, which is based on your target market and demographics, the higher the cost will be. There are three different ways to advertise with Hulu: pre-roll, in-stream ads, and sponsorships.

There are two parts to buying Hulu ads: the ad network and the publisher. The ad network is responsible for knowing what kind of advertising is being shown on Hulu, along with who the advertisers are that buy ad slots on the channel. The publisher is responsible for showing any advertiser’s creative they pay to have placed there while streaming tv shows or other content related to TV programs via Hulu.

Hulu advertising can be a helpful technique that companies of all kinds and sizes can use as an option if they want to offer their brand’s online exposure through television commercials or even promotional videos right streamed onto their user’s TVs. Also, with the help of Hulu advertising and the guidance of professionals in this field, companies can measure how effective their ads have been in order to see if they should continue buying ad space or if they are wasting money on something that is not working for them.

Self Service Advertising Platform

Self service advertising platforms for CTV and OTT are becoming increasingly popular as they allow users to access the latest digital advertising campaigns quickly and cost-effectively. With these platforms, advertisers can use real-time data to make decisions on programming placement, budgeting, and targeting.

This allows them to create more tailored ad experiences that are better optimized for the viewer’s needs. Additionally, the use of analytics tools can help brands recognize their most profitable campaigns while measuring ad campaign effectiveness in real-time.

As more consumers transition to OTT and CTV devices, a self-service advertising platform offers an effective way for advertisers to harness this growing medium. These technologies enable marketers to manage complex campaigns across different devices in one platform easily. Furthermore, brands can access detailed insights into how audiences engage with their ads across multiple channels without needing specialized skills or a deep understanding of digital media technology. This ensures campaigns reach the right audience at the right time—resulting in a higher engagement at a lower cost.

Advertising on Hulu with the Hulu Ad Manager

Hulu has recently launched a new self service advertising platform, the Hulu Ad Manager. The platform is designed to make it easier for advertisers to manage their campaigns, allowing them to track performance, analyze data, and allocate budgets in a single place. With this tool, users have more control over the success of their ad campaigns, increasing the potential for growth. Additionally, the Hulu ad manager helps advertisers save time and resources while maximizing their reach and ROI.

The new Hulu Ad Manager is set to revolutionize the way that advertisers launch and manage campaigns. With its user-friendly interface, users can create detailed campaigns quickly without having to be experts in digital media technology. Additionally, advertisers will be able to gain access to valuable insights on their marketing performance and make changes in real-time. Furthermore, The Hulu Ad Manager will offer unparalleled access to audiences at scale so that brands can reach the right people with the right message. With all of these features combined, it is clear that the new Hulu Ad Manager is poised to provide a superior digital advertising experience for both consumers and marketers alike.

HOW MUCH DO HULU ADS COST?

Hulu is more accessible overall as an ad platform than you might expect. Previously rates have averaged around $30-40 per every thousand impressions. Recently, rates have dropped and are now closer to $20 per million. This is due to an increase in usage and longer ad times, meaning they have more placements that are reducing the cost. Hulu has been more aggressive about building relationships with ad agencies, so expect to see a wider variety of spots in the coming weeks and to see more of their CPMs on the rise with higher rates of $20 and $50,000-a-year rates.

STREAMING TV ADVERTISING IS THE FUTURE

Hulu and other streaming tv services are proving that they’re going to be around for the long haul. For businesses, that means that allocating resources to advertising on Hulu and other streaming services should be done sooner than later. 

If you found this post helpful, visit DesignLoud to get more information on running and promoting a small business in 2024.