MARKETING
40+ Mistakes Derailing Your Content Team (and How To Fix Them)
No content marketer works alone. Even if people who make up a content team of one still engage with colleagues, clients, and contractors. And everyone reports to a boss.
Great, productive interactions and collaboration feel exhilarating and inspiring. But not all collaboration falls into that category.
Challenges always arise when people come together (virtually or physically) to strategize, brainstorm, create, publish, and promote content. Mistakes involving resources, content operations, and more can derail even the most promising projects.
We asked the speakers at Content Marketing World 2022 where they see the biggest problems happening on content marketing teams. Their responses should resonate with anyone who has worked with people (and that’s everyone). But they’re especially helpful for content marketers.
Managing #content teams isn’t easy. But the productivity that comes from successful collaboration make it worthwhile. Steer around common pitfalls with help from #CMWorld speakers via @AnnGynn @CMIContent @Canto. Click To Tweet
Forgetting the Golden Rule
It’s the same mistake people make managing anyone – they forget the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would do to yourself.
First, treat each other like humans. Be flexible. Be sympathetic. Constantly put yourself in their shoes. My entire team follows each other on social media and shares what’s happening in real life. (Psssst … Real life is work life. If you have to have “balance,” you should probably get another job.)
When you work by the Golden Rule, you work “nicer.” You also build fans from within so that our overarching marketing strategy of evangelism radiates from the inside out. – Kate Bradley Chernis, co-founder and CEO, Lately
Fitting people into boxes
I think this applies to managing any team. Many new managers will fit employees into a box based on the needs of a business. But what if you shifted your perspective and looked first at the needs of your employees? What makes them tick? What do they enjoy doing? What makes their work shine? Once you understand your people, it’s easy to match their skills with what the business needs. – Amy Higgins, senior director, content marketing, Twilio
Asking for everything in one role
I’ve seen so many content marketing job descriptions that are wildly unrealistic. Unless you’re a small company, it’s a mistake to expect any one content marketer to “do it all,” especially if the scope of content marketing and expectations for its impact are bigger than the scope of your resources.
Stop spreading your peanut butter too thin – it’s a recipe for burnout. Instead:
- Increase the size of the team and allow individuals to focus on the work they love/are best at (with the opportunity to learn and try new things).
- Stop doing all the things and do fewer things better. Like Drew Davis asked in his 2021 CM World keynote, “What if we spend our creative energy wisely on one outcome?” – Carmen Hill, principal strategist and writer, Chill Content
Spreading your #ContentMarketing team too thin is a recipe for burnout, says @CarmenHill via @CMIContent @Canto. #CMWorld Click To Tweet
Hiring only marketers
Mistake 1: Hiring only people with marketing backgrounds. (People with diverse experiences and backgrounds make for much better content). Mistake 2: Siloes. Maximizing the collaboration between parts of the team and content mediums (blog, social, video, audio) to repurpose ideas and content into different formats is a key process to establish. – Jennifer Jordan, vice president and global head of content, Babbel
Including only content strategists and creators
Content marketing teams are too often limited to content strategists and creators only. If we see content marketing as a company mindset and a culture, then teams should include colleagues that benefit from the content and who may not describe themselves as marketers: sales professionals, product developers, CEOs, etc. The team should also include the people who facilitate successful content marketing: IT and tech, CFOs, etc.
Defining the content marketing team as a broader team helps to avoid Joe Pulizzi’s law No. 1: The Law of They Have No Clue What You’re Doing. Within the team, the implementation task force consists of a content strategist and creators who take the responsibility of bringing ideas to life. – Bert van Loon, strategist, CMFF
Looking for the same skills
One of the biggest mistakes in building and managing a content marketing team is too much focus on the same skills with the intention of producing a high volume of content. Teams should have diverse skills, diverse backgrounds, and diverse ideas and should be led by a data-driven leader focused on business results. – Bernie Borges, vice president global content marketing, iQor
#ContentMarketing teams need people with diverse skills, backgrounds, and ideas – and a data-driven leader, says @BernieBorges via @CMIContent @Canto. #CMWorld Click To Tweet
Onboarding for specialization
Overspecializing is a big one. Instead of bringing on new people or agencies for every skill or channel, look for more T-shaped people (folks with broad knowledge across many content disciplines, along with one area of deep expertise).
There are times when a specialist is the right way to go, but especially for full-time hires, and especially if you’re a smaller team, you’re better off looking for utility players. – Andrea Fryrear, CEO and co-founder, AgileSherpas
Not saying no
A writing team’s bandwidth is not infinite, but many content leaders don’t have a framework or the confidence to turn down requests. This reactionary operational model may lead to burnout and, ultimately, turnover of valuable staff.
Every content marketing manager needs a process for managing and prioritizing content intake requests. This may include tying requests to broader marketing campaigns, gaps, and initiatives, defining standard pieces to be included in content bundles, and establishing metrics to determine effectiveness.
At technical B2B companies, it is highly difficult and inefficient to create quality content without consulting with a subject matter expert (SME). Support your team by evangelizing the business impact of content internally. Help clear roadblocks so your writers’ time is spent on sourcing and writing, not hounding unenthusiastic SMEs. – Wendy Covey, CEO and co-founder, TREW Marketing
Many #ContentMarketing leaders lack a framework or the confidence to turn down requests, says @wendycovey via @CMIContent @Canto. #CMWorld Click To Tweet
Trying to do it all
The biggest mistake people make when managing a content team is thinking they can (and should) do it all, where small content marketing teams, or even one person, are expected to have expertise in copywriting, storytelling, design, demand gen, demand capture, SEO, organic social, paid social, podcasting, video marketing, blogging … the list goes on.
There is so much you can do with content marketing that it’s easy to overload your in-house team or feel limited by the available skillsets and time. But there is another option: outsourcing.
Working with skilled partners can help you achieve much more while alleviating pressure on your team. By doing this, you keep everyone operating within their zone of genius. I believe managing a high-performing content marketing team means balancing happy and engaged in-house personnel with strategic, nurtured partnerships. – Amy Woods, founder and CEO, Content 10x
Misunderstanding the editor-in-chief role
A lot of content folks graduate up into content marketing management and get frustrated about their role being so focused on project management, but that’s what the role of a good editor-in-chief is.
You need to train and set guidelines for quality, but you also need to manage the content calendar, educate others on how long types of content take to make, and spot when the team is creating two very similar assets that could be combined into one.
There is a lot of duplicative work on content marketing teams due simply to the lack of a dedicated project manager, which is the EIC’s job. – Tracey Wallace, director of content strategy, Klaviyo
Omitting quality assurance
Mistake 1: not having a quality assurance person or process. Mistake 2: not having a project manager.
As I’ve said, project management is not a nice to have for any project. It is critical for its success regarding scope, budget, and timing. When it comes to creative projects, project management is crucial to managing meetings, reviews, assets, and expectations. Project management should never be an afterthought. – Michael Weiss, vice president of consulting services and solutions, Creative Circle
Project management should never be an afterthought for #ContentMarketing teams, says @MikePWeiss via @CMIContent @Canto. #CMWorld Click To Tweet
Failing to build bridges
Allowing the content marketing team to become siloed would be a big mistake. It’s critical for the content team to build strong bridges to every other area of marketing.
Pair a content marketer with a product marketer and extend that to other areas of marketing, creating “pods” aligned to a single product area or persona. This supports content-driven collaboration that’s scalable and productive. – Ali Orlando Wert, director of content strategy, Qlik
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Not seeing value in integration
One big mistake that some organizations still make is not integrating the content marketing team’s efforts with those of the larger marketing department.
At best, this can result in the appearance that one group is unaware of the other’s activities. At worst, it can cost the opportunity to amplify messaging and ensure consistency. – Nancy Harhut, CCO, HBT Marketing
Disregarding cross-training
Always cross-train your team. In this era of the Great Resignation and COVID, it’s important to make sure that no one person is the linchpin of your team.
Your top performer may suddenly be out of the office with an illness or leave for a new job. Also, we’re all finally taking vacations and deserve some time unconnected from work. Projects can’t stop because one person is missing.
Cross-training team members to cover for each other can provide career growth opportunities. A team member may learn more about a different side of content marketing and flourish. Also, your projects will benefit from fresh perspectives. – Penny Gralewski, senior director, product and portfolio marketing, DataRobot
Make sure no one person is the linchpin of your #ContentMarketing team, says @VirtualPenny via @CMIContent @Canto. #CMWorld Click To Tweet
Possessing a team-only mindset
Overlooking individual motivations as a root cause of team performance issues. Team members can find all sorts of plausible excuses for not meeting goals. Handling them in a one-off way just addresses symptoms without changing the team dynamic.
Use content marketing tools like personas and journey maps to reflect on your internal team’s motivations for getting the work done and see if the team performance doesn’t skyrocket. – Jenny Magic, founder, Better Way to Say It
Ignoring the individual
It’s a mistake not to deeply understand the individuals on their team. As marketers, we spend a lot of time learning about our audience – building personas, finding out what motivates them, and understanding what makes them tick – all so we can create better content for them. Why wouldn’t we do the same thing with our teams? We should deeply understand them so we can manage them more effectively and support them in doing their best work? – Monica Norton, head of content marketing, Yelp
Not looking to the future
A common mistake that marketing team leads make is overlooking the team aspect. Your content marketing team is made up of individuals with unique experiences, goals, and passions.
I see content marketing leaders not helping their employees to define their career path. It’s important to understand where everyone on your team wants to go (which may or may not be into a leadership position), so you can provide the right growth opportunities.
A second mistake I see frequently is that marketing teams rarely have a good content library or information repository. Give your team, including marketing consultants, the resources they need to thrive. In way too many organizations, people are unaware of existing content that they can reuse, repurpose, or link to, leading to duplicating efforts. Similarly, templates for common deliverables like blog posts, thought leadership plans, and channel audits are a great way to streamline work.
A final mistake is when teams treat all content as lead-generation content, thinking that content must have a hard CTA that drives people into the funnel. That’s simply not how relationships are built and can undermine your content strategy. Sometimes, the best call to action is a piece of content that’s the next step in a learning journey, not in an immediate buyer’s journey. – Erika Heald, founder, lead consultant, Erika Heald Marketing Consulting
Expecting creators to be SMEs
The biggest mistake is thinking your content team can be your sole subject matter expert. Yes, they are experts, but their role is to be curators and generators that herald the brand’s voice. But they can only do so if other members of your organization proactively contribute meaningfully to the thought leadership desired by your audience. – Karen McFarlane, chief marketing officer, LetterShop
Your #Content team shouldn’t be your sole subject matter experts, says @karenkmcfarlane via @CMIContent @Canto. #CMWorld Click To Tweet
Looking only inside
From a brand perspective, one of the biggest mistakes I see is limiting content creation to the bandwidth of an internal team. No matter how niche or regulated your industry is, I promise you there are extremely talented freelance writers who can support your crew.
Prevent burnout internally by paying well for professional freelancers. This also presents your internal team with a growth opportunity they might not otherwise have at a large company.
Allow them to give feedback, edit, and manage external resources like their own micro-team, and you’ll help them branch out from a traditional content role and build their professional skill set. – Haley Collins, director of operations and content, GPO
Micromanaging
Leaders who micromanage their teams stifle creativity. Leaders who ignore their teams create apathy.
If you lead a content marketing team, neither of these scenarios is ideal. You want to let creativity flourish on your team while assuring team members that you are there to support and guide them if needed. – Andi Robinson, global digital content marketing, Corteva Agriscience
#ContentMarketing leaders who micromanage their teams stifle creativity, says @hijinxmarketing via @CMIContent @Canto. #CMWorld Click To Tweet
Overlooking strategy and goals
Not understanding the actual strategy and goal driving the creation of that piece of content and then effectively communicating that to the team. If you don’t know what action you want each piece of your content to drive, you’re missing the mark. – Brian Piper, director of content strategy and assessment, University of Rochester
Not communicating your team’s mission
Mistake 1: Not having a goal for each channel. All channels must play a role. So, the one in charge of creating content for that very specific channel can always work with a challenge in mind.
Mistake 2: Your team doesn’t know what your content mission statement is. What happens then? Your team will implement dozens of informal guidelines, which means following no guidelines at all. – Cassio Politi, founder, Tracto Content Marketing
Diffusing the focus
Mistake 1: Unclear outcomes – just asking a team to create content isn’t enough. Exactly what are you trying to accomplish with the content you create?
Mistake 2: Too many outcomes – inviting your team to increase engagement, raise brand awareness, generate leads, become the industry expert, drive sales, and increase your search ranking with your content is asking too much of your team (not your content).
Define one clear outcome for your content marketing strategy and watch your team thrive. – Andrew Davis, author and keynote speaker, Monumental Shift
Expecting too much
Not getting out of their own way and thinking that one person can (and should!) do two people’s jobs. – Chris Ducker, founder, Youpreneur.com
Involving too many stakeholders
One well-intentioned inefficiency is an overly large group of client-side stakeholders, which can result in both content creation by consensus and approval paralysis.
Don’t get me wrong, we love enthusiastically engaged clients, but we also love leaders stepping up to be accountable for individual client-side teams. – Diane di Costanzo, chief content officer, Foundry 360, Dotdash Meredith
Not providing the foundation
It’s incredibly important to provide brand standards to your content marketing team. Each brand has its own point of view, voice, and do’s and don’ts. Make sure your content marketing team is intimately familiar with these brand standards to ensure your content looks and feels and sounds like your brand. – Brittany Graff, senior director of marketing, Painting with a Twist
Focusing on the little things
Mistake 1. A failure to understand the full process of developing/creating content and trying to micromanage each person and their responsibilities.
Mistake 2. Not giving your team the resources they need to be successful or the latitude to try and test new ideas. – Michael Bordieri, senior content solutions consultant, LinkedIn
Forgetting to give the tools
Failing to give their team the right templates, processes, and tech that can make them more efficient and effective at their jobs. – Paul Roetzer, CEO, Marketing AI Institute
Seeing only stars
They have good experiences with a few superstar writers, so they try to get along without content briefs and creative briefs. As a result, they cannot scale. They don’t have sources of truth, and they kill their writer morale with developmental edits that are unreasonable. – Jeff Coyle, co-founder, CSO, MarketMuse
Zigging and zagging
The big mistake I encounter with content marketing teams is not starting and following a strategic path with clear and identifiable goals. Content marketing is not easy. As a team, we need to decide what success looks and feels like before we begin a project.
Another mistake is not giving the team the resources or adequate time to be creative. Burnout is a real thing and can happen so quickly if you are not willing to prevent it or recognize it when it does happen. – Jacquie Chakirelis, chief digital strategy officer, Quest Digital/Great Lakes Publishing
Going for the wrong things
Focusing on quantity over quality. Spammy keywords or hashtags. Not getting feedback before posting content. – Tim Schmoyer, founder/CEO, Video Creators
Casting doubt with lack of information
Teams need certainty. Marketing teams struggle with creating a clear vision and a change plan for new initiatives.
Identifying influencers and who will be impacted is a key first step in getting the team to adopt new ways of working. Take a broader perspective and consider what you can take off their plate to improve team performance. – Melissa Breker, strategic business advisor, Breker Group
Thinking tactically
Telling content marketers what to create and focusing on tasks vs. outcomes can be serious errors. – Michael Brenner, CEO, Marketing Insider Group
Not writing things down
Not having a documented plan. Too often, what we do is kept in our heads and not duly noted and documented. It makes it very hard to share the plan with anyone else or for them to jump in when nothing is documented. – Meg Coffey, managing director, Coffey & Tea
Going in many directions
The biggest mistake is no clear editorial mission statement with a focus on a specific content niche. Without it, teams have no clear common goal. They might have a different understanding of the content qualities that would make the publication they contribute to the best source of information in the defined niche or who they write for.
We want them to be creative and to contribute their ideas and skills, but at the same time, the sum of all these efforts should have a single direction.
It’s like pulling a cart: If everyone pulls in their own direction, we will go nowhere. The most likely result will be inconsistent content with little audience resonance. – Igor Bielobadek, digital marketing senior manager, Deloitte
Forgetting content marketing’s roots
The biggest mistake I have seen — and made — is forgetting that content marketing is ultimately rooted in creativity. Yes, you need a strategy. Yes, you need structure. Yes, you need a keen measurement plan.
But you also need to give a team of creatives — writers, editors, photographers, illustrators, videographers, audio editors, and more — the freedom to experiment. Create a culture where thinking creatively is encouraged. Give people the freedom to have bad ideas and even fail from time to time. Because for each bad idea, there also will be a gem. And ultimately, content made by creators who feel free and love what they do will be more resonant. – Chris Blose, founder, Chris Blose Content
Discouraging creative workouts
Never strangle your content team’s creativity. Sure, sometimes boring stuff needs to be created. But if you can’t let your team flex those intuitive, creative muscles, they will move on.
That doesn’t always mean they need to write creatively. Sometimes, a new project or even a new framework can help them glow. It never hurts to ask them what they need to do their best work. It might not be what you think. – Gina Balarin, director and content queen, Verballistics
Fixing rather than teaching
- Knowledge sharing is critical. As a member of leadership, you’re privy to far more context than the people you manage. It’s critical that you share that context with your people. This can be anything from an emerging trend your salespeople are encountering on calls or a news story about your competitors. Give your people as much information as possible so they don’t miss out. Open an update channel on Slack (or whatever your chosen platform may be) and encourage people to share links and insights there. Then lead by example. Start dropping links and insights there, and your team will follow.
- Fixing instead of teaching. If one of your content writers isn’t hitting a point well enough or is missing something in terms of tone or message, don’t just rewrite it. Take a moment to pinpoint the actual issue and then let the person figure out how to fix it. If you rewrite them, they’re not going to learn and will keep making the same mistakes. Trust your people to fix their own work. They’ll do a better job than you, I promise. – Inbar Yagur, vice president of marketing, GrowthSpace
Assuming too much
The biggest mistake is assuming everyone remembers to create from an overarching goal. Producing content for social media requires us to move outside the traditional sales-driven content.
But we have to remember that we exist to complement and supplement our company’s business. It’s easy to forget that and just “play on social.” It all has to ladder up to the business goal, but in a voice and context relevant to the social audience. – Jason Falls, senior influence strategist, Cornett
Failing to work cross-functionally
Remember, content marketers may not be the right people to tee up your content for buyers within campaigns. This is where demand or growth teams need to work cross-functionally with content marketers to map the buyer journey.
Every campaign has a channel, and the content is often the destination. This mindset is crucial to getting your content marketers to think about their role in acting as the connective tissue within your organization. – Randy Frisch, chief evangelist, Uberflip
Failing to promote
One mistake would be failing to promote the content once it’s created. Public relations professionals are great at both creating content and promoting it, which is why I believe you shouldn’t silo off these two teams – they should be working together. Also, don’t overlook the role the social media team plays in this process.
Squeeze all the juice from each piece of content that’s created. That means if you write a customer success story, why not pitch it to your key industry publications? They may want to include it with a link back to the original piece on your site. Then, you can promote that on social media.
I’ve even had editors contact me about a client’s thought leadership piece or customer story they saw in another publication, asking if they can also publish a version of it. It works. – Michelle Garrett, consultant, Garrett Public Relations
Concentrating too much on numbers
They overmanage the campaign KPIs instead of managing the conversations (think conversations you want to be part of in your industry). They forget human metrics for people – joy, fun, experimentation, playfulness.
It’s a big mistake not to give teams latitude to experiment. The bigger mistake is not to remember that human metrics – humor, creativity, and joy – matter. Stop treating humor like a bandage for shitty culture and leadership. We have to stop treating it like campaigns and one-offs. It’s got to be part of your culture and how your team operates.
I see leaders often blaming marketers for bad content. If you don’t make it safe, fun, and part of the culture to fail, have fun, learn, and grow, your team won’t. Stop blaming marketers for crappy culture. If your culture sucks, so will marketing. – Kathy Klotz-Guest, founder, Keeping it Human
Stop blaming marketers for crappy culture. If your culture sucks, so will marketing, says @kathyklotzguest via @CMIContent @Canto. #CMWorld Click To Tweet
Thinking they know
Believing that content is simple because it looks simple. Great content should have elements that require cross-functional skills: SEO, images, writing, video, podcast, development, editing, etc. If you’re managing folks, be sure you understand what goes into their day and the duties assigned to them.
We all hate the ask for showing ROI, but it’s critical that content be aligned with sales and the messaging they need. Your team can’t just be creatives; you’ve got to understand pipeline attribution and the user journey. – Jenn Vande Zande, editor-in-chief, SAP Customer Experience
Make a better content marketing team
Think of these mistakes as fodder for self-reflection. After reading each, decide if the error happens in your organization or your team.
Then ask yourself if it’s really a mistake. You may find what doesn’t work for someone else might work for you (or vice versa).
Fix what you can and collaborate to address the rest.
The important thing is to review your content marketing team operations intentionally. And that’s never a mistake.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
MARKETING
Foundations of Agency Success: Simplifying Operations for Growth
Why do we read books like Traction, Scaling Up, and the E-Myth and still struggle with implementing systems, defining processes, and training people in our agency?
Those are incredibly comprehensive methodologies. And yet digital agencies still suffer from feast or famine months, inconsistent results and timelines on projects, quality control, revisions, and much more. It’s not because they aren’t excellent at what they do. I
t’s not because there isn’t value in their service. It’s often because they haven’t defined the three most important elements of delivery: the how, the when, and the why.
Complicating our operations early on can lead to a ton of failure in implementing them. Business owners overcomplicate their own processes, hesitate to write things down, and then there’s a ton of operational drag in the company.
Couple that with split attention and paper-thin resources and you have yourself an agency that spends most of its time putting out fires, reacting to problems with clients, and generally building a culture of “the Founder/Creative Director/Leader will fix it” mentality.
Before we chat through how truly simple this can all be, let’s first go back to the beginning.
When we start our companies, we’re told to hustle. And hustle hard. We’re coached that it takes a ton of effort to create momentum, close deals, hire people, and manage projects. And that is all true. There is a ton of work that goes into getting a business up and running.
The challenge is that we all adopt this habit of burning the candle at both ends and the middle all for the sake of growing the business. And we bring that habit into the next stage of growth when our business needs… you guessed it… exactly the opposite.
In Mike Michalowitz’s book, Profit First he opens by insisting the reader understand and accept a fundamental truth: our business is a cash-eating monster. The truth is, our business is also a time-eating monster. And it’s only when we realize that as long as we keep feeding it our time and our resources, it’ll gobble everything up leaving you with nothing in your pocket and a ton of confusion around why you can’t grow.
Truth is, financial problems are easy compared to operational problems. Money is everywhere. You can go get a loan or go create more revenue by providing value easily. What’s harder is taking that money and creating systems that produce profitably. Next level is taking that money, creating profit and time freedom.
In my bestselling book, The Sabbatical Method, I teach owners how to fundamentally peel back the time they spend in their company, doing everything, and how it can save owners a lot of money, time, and headaches by professionalizing their operations.
The tough part about being a digital agency owner is that you likely started your business because you were great at something. Building websites, creating Search Engine Optimization strategies, or running paid media campaigns. And then you ended up running a company. Those are two very different things.
How to Get Out of Your Own Way and Create Some Simple Structure for Your Agency…
- Start Working Less
I know this sounds really brash and counterintuitive, but I’ve seen it work wonders for clients and colleagues alike. I often say you can’t see the label from inside the bottle and I’ve found no truer statement when it comes to things like planning, vision, direction, and operations creation.
Owners who stay in the weeds of their business while trying to build the structure are like hunters in the jungle hacking through the brush with a machete, getting nowhere with really sore arms. Instead, define your work day, create those boundaries of involvement, stop working weekends, nights and jumping over people’s heads to solve problems.
It’ll help you get another vantage point on your company and your team can build some autonomy in the meantime.
- Master the Art of Knowledge Transfer
There are two ways to impart knowledge on others: apprenticeship and writing something down. Apprenticeship began as a lifelong relationship and often knowledge was only retained by ONE person who would carry on your method.
Writing things down used to be limited (before the printing press) to whoever held the pages.
We’re fortunate that today, we have many ways of imparting knowledge to our team. And creating this habit early on can save a business from being dependent on any one person who has a bunch of “how” and “when” up in their noggin.
While you’re taking some time to get out of the day-to-day, start writing things down and recording your screen (use a tool like loom.com) while you’re answering questions.
Deposit those teachings into a company knowledge base, a central location for company resources. Some of the most scaleable and sellable companies I’ve ever worked with had this habit down pat.
- Define Your Processes
Lean in. No fancy tool or software is going to save your company. Every team I’ve ever worked with who came to me with a half-built project management tool suffered immensely from not first defining their process. This isn’t easy to do, but it can be simple.
The thing that hangs up most teams to dry is simply making decisions. If you can decide how you do something, when you do it and why it’s happening that way, you’ve already won. I know exactly what you’re thinking: our process changes all the time, per client, per engagement, etc. That’s fine.
Small businesses should be finding better, more efficient ways to do things all the time. Developing your processes and creating a maintenance effort to keep them accurate and updated is going to be a liferaft in choppy seas. You’ll be able to cling to it when the agency gets busy.
“I’m so busy, how can I possibly work less and make time for this?”
You can’t afford not to do this work. Burning the candle at both ends and the middle will catch up eventually and in some form or another. Whether it’s burnout, clients churning out of the company, a team member leaving, some huge, unexpected tax bill.
I’ve heard all the stories and they all suck. It’s easier than ever to start a business and it’s harder than ever to keep one. This work might not be sexy, but it gives us the freedom we craved when we began our companies.
Start small and simple and watch your company become more predictable and your team more efficient.
MARKETING
Advertising on Hulu: Ad Formats, Examples & Tips
With the continued rise in streaming service adoption, advertisers are increasingly turning to OTT (over-the-top) advertising, which allows brands to reach their target audiences while they stream television shows and movies. OTT advertising is advertising delivered directly to viewers over the internet through streaming services or devices, such as streaming sticks and connected TVs. One of the most popular streaming ad-supported streaming services today is Hulu.
At just $7.99 per month (with ads) and $17.99 per month (without ads), Hulu is a great deal. And where the deals are incredible, the subscribers follow…
The formula itself is one we’re all familiar with, and it appears to be working out quite well for Hulu.
- Low prices attract more viewers
- More viewers brings more eyes to Hulu ads
- More eyes on ads brings more interested advertisers
- Advertising revenue climbs alongside impressive viewer growth
In this particular scenario, everyone wins! And the proof is in the pudding considering Hulu generated $11.2 billion in revenue in 2023.
In the following article, we will cover everything you need to know about Hulu including how to advertise on Hulu, ad types available, advertising cost, best examples of Hulu ads, and more. Let’s dive right in.
What is Hulu Advertising?
Image Source: https://www.emarketer.com/content/disney-will-become-streaming-heavyweight
Hulu is a service that offers subscription video on demand. Hulu currently has more than 50.2 million subscribers across their SVOD (ad-free subscription video on demand) and AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) plans, translating to nearly 100 million viewers in 2021. eMarketer predictions estimate that number will grow to 115.6 million viewers by 2024.
Hulu notes on their website that their ad-supported offering is their most popular. Previously shared statistics showed that in 2023, 58% of total Hulu subscribers opted for the ad-supported plan.
Hulu subscriptions can be purchased on their own, or as part of a bundle with other services. One such popular option is The Disney Bundle. The new Disney Bundle brings together the extensive Disney+ and Hulu libraries – including beloved characters, award-winning films and series, and 100 years’ worth of inspiring stories – all in one place.
Hulu’s ad-supported and ad-free plans offer subscribers a vast streaming library, inclusive of thousands of movies and TV episodes. Hulu Originals are also included in both plans, as is the ability to watch on the internet-enabled device of your choosing—TV, mobile, tablet, or laptop. As the first platform to introduce viewer-first advertising innovations, like the industry’s first interactive ad formats, Hulu continues to give viewers choice and control over their ad experience.
Outside of the primary differentiators between the two options—ads or no ads, and cost—the only additional distinction to be made is that the ad-supported version does not allow subscribers to download and watch titles on-the-go.
Hulu offers a popular option with an ad-supported tier. This utilizes OTT advertising, meaning ads are delivered directly to viewers over the internet through the Hulu platform, rather than traditional cable or satellite TV. Unlike a typical TV buy where you get a set amount of ad space, these OTT ad buys allow for granular targeting based on demographics, location, and interests, similar to what you might experience on other digital platforms. While these ads are strategically placed before, during, and potentially after your chosen content, they are not skippable. It’s also worth noting that even ad-free tiers might show a few promotional spots for certain shows or live TV events.
Hulu has its very own ad platform that includes a robust set of options for bidding, targeting, and measurement, as well as different ad experiences.
Why Advertise on Hulu?
In today’s media landscape, reaching your target audience effectively is crucial. Hulu offers a compelling advertising platform with a variety of advantages:
- Massive Reach – Tap into a vast audience of engaged viewers. Hulu boasts over 50.2 million subscribers, with their AVOD tier reaching a staggering 109.2 million viewers per month.
- Targeted Engagement – Go beyond traditional TV’s limitations. Hulu’s targeting capabilities allow you to zero in on specific demographics, interests, and even geographies. This ensures your message reaches viewers most likely to resonate with your brand.
- Cost-Effectiveness – Hulu has many buy options, which makes it accessible for any size client to run a campaign on Hulu. Hulu offers campaign minimums as low as $500, which creates a low barrier to entry for most clients. Especially, when partnering with an agency like Tinuiti, where brands can anticipate 2-3x more efficient CPMs when compared to the general market. This makes it accessible for businesses of various sizes to test and refine their advertising strategies.
- DRAX – Disney’s Real-Time Ad Exchange establishes direct connections to major media buying platforms for streamlined ad buying across Disney+ and Hulu. This integration increases automation, allowing advertisers easier access to Disney’s inventory. Partnerships with Google and The Trade Desk provide direct paths to Disney’s inventory, offering greater reach, flexibility, and transparency.
- Engaging Ad Formats – Hulu offers a variety of ad formats beyond standard video ads. Explore interactive elements to capture viewer attention and create a more immersive brand experience with Shoppable ads, pause ads, takeovers, and more.
- Brand Safety – Hulu prioritizes brand safety, ensuring your ads appear alongside high-quality content. This minimizes the risk of your brand being associated with inappropriate content.
By leveraging Hulu’s advertising solutions, you can target engaged viewers, deliver impactful messaging, and ultimately reach your marketing goals.
How Advertising on Hulu Works
Hulu offers brands of all sizes a chance to advertise on their platform. And since Hulu falls under the Disney umbrella, advertising opportunities extend beyond the Hulu platform itself. There are opportunities to buy into inventory cross ESPN, Disney+, ABC and more.
It’s important to keep in mind, the method through which you purchase ads plays a role in the measurement insights you’ll receive. Below are the three primary ways to buy ad placements on Hulu, with additional details regarding programmatic buys, and Hulu’s self-service platform.
- Purchase ads directly from Hulu sales teams
- Programmatic ad buys
- Through Hulu’s self-service platform (currently invite-only, but brands can request access)
If you’re not ready to pick up the phone and collaborate with Hulu’s sales team on a large ad buy, you’re probably going to end up using Programmatic Guaranteed ad buys or purchase ad space through the Self Service Platform. Here’s a little more information on each option:
Programmatic Guaranteed (Reserved Buys) and Private Marketplace (Auctionable)
Ads purchased through a programmatic sales team that works directly with platforms and streaming agencies, like Tinuiti. This offers advanced local and national targeting and measurement capabilities, enhanced reporting, and suite of targeting options at fixed or biddable rates.
Whether you want to target lookalike audiences, specific demographics, interest or behavioral segments, or leverage audience CRM matching for a customized group, you’ll know exactly when and where your ads showed, and be provided with robust reporting that helps measure what’s working best, and where you should continue to invest for optimal performance. You’ll also enjoy guaranteed media buys that ensure you get the expected visibility and reach.
There are certain Hulu ad types that can’t be purchased programmatically, including sponsored placements, pause ads, and ad-selector ads, among other standout units. For these types, Tinuiti makes reserved buys for our clients from opportunities that are only available through Hulu directly.
Not sure which ad types make the most sense for your business and advertising goals? Our team works with clients to determine which campaign initiatives are best for them, and help ensure their creative meets Hulu’s requirements.
Self-Service Hulu Ads (Beta) – Must RSVP and Be Approved as a Brand
Hulu’s self-serve ad platform allows brands to access ad inventory directly, with a modest $500 campaign minimum. These ads are ideal for smaller businesses that don’t have a sizable streaming ads budget, or are just getting started with OTT and want to test the waters.
The Self-Service Ads beta program offers a glimpse into the future of advertising on Hulu. With features like budget management, targeted audience selection, and ad format flexibility (to some extent), businesses can craft impactful campaigns tailored to their specific needs. However, remember the current limitations and the need for approval before getting started.
Reporting Limitations: Notably, when purchasing through the self-service platform, your reporting will only include impression data; you won’t have insights into where your ads actually ran.
While this offering is still in beta, Hulu has already shared some early success stories. Learn more here about how Hulu self-serve ads work.
How Much Does Hulu Advertising Cost?
Unlike traditional ad buys, Hulu advertising utilizes a cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) model. This means you pay each time one thousand viewers see your ad, with estimates ranging from $10 to $30 CPM. Factors like targeting specifics, competition, and ad format (pre-roll vs. mid-roll, length) can influence the final cost.
Hulu advertising costs are structured to allow for advertisers of all sizes and budgets, but the total costs, you’ll realize, will largely depend on a number of factors, including:
- Whether you’re buying directly through Hulu or a DSP (demand-side platform)
- Any restrictions you place on Hulu regarding where your ads display. Specific audience or genre targeting, and/or frequency caps, may incur a premium as well
- Which ad types you choose
- How much creative you will need to generate for your ads (production costs)
- Seasonality—Q4 advertising costs are higher than other quarters
- Whether you’re buying through an up-front agreement (advertising commitment for a full TV season), or the scatter market (ad buys that run month-to-month, or quarter-to-quarter)
How to Advertise on Hulu
Here’s what you need to know to advertise on Hulu, from buying and targeting to measurement and optimization.
Hulu offers several advertising reach options for brands:
- National: Reach viewers across the US
- Local: Reach a localized target audience
- Advanced TV: Automated, data-informed ad buys
Within the Advanced TV category, Hulu has 3 different bidding options:
- Programmatic Guaranteed: Automated, guaranteed buy with advanced targeting.
- Private Marketplace: Non-guaranteed buy with increased targeting control.
- Invite-Only Auction: Find your audience, set your price, and optimize from within your DSP
In Hulu’s invite-only auction, advertisers select their target audience, determine their bid price for that audience, and control and optimize their ad campaigns in real-time based on results and performance. You can learn more about Hulu’s advanced targeting options here.
When it comes to executing Hulu ads, at Tinuiti, we can take on all the heavy lifting for you.
Ad Types Available on Hulu [With Specs]
In today’s streaming world, capturing viewers’ attention is more important than ever. When it comes to Hulu ads, pre-roll placements (those shown before your chosen content) are proven to be highly effective, especially earlier slots within the pre-roll sequence. This is prime real estate for grabbing viewers before they settle into their show.
But don’t be limited! Hulu offers a variety of ad formats to suit your needs, including pre-roll, mid-roll (shown during commercial breaks within the content), and even 7-second bumper ads for quick, impactful messaging. Whether you choose a short and sweet 7-second spot or a more detailed 15 or 30-second video ad, Hulu offers the flexibility to tailor your message to your audience and campaign goals.
When creating your Hulu video ad, it’s important to follow their specifications including:
- Video Duration: 15 to 30 seconds
- Audio Duration: Must match video duration
- Dimensions: 1920×1080 preferred; 1280×720 accepted
- Display Aspect Ratios: 16:9 preferred; Hulu will accept videos shot with 2.39:1, 1.375:1, 3:4, or 4:3 dimensions, but you must make the video fit a 16:9 ratio by inserting matting on the top and bottom of the video.
- Video Format: QuickTime, MOV, or MPEG-4
- File Extensions: .mov or .mp4
- File Size: 10 GB maximum
- Audio Format: PCM, AAC
- Frame Rate: 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, or 30 fps
- Frame Rate Mode: Constant
- Video Bit Depth: 8 or 16 bits
- Video Bit Rate: 10 Mbps – 40 Mbps
- Audio Bit Depth: 16 or 24 bits (for audio channel 2)
- Audio Bit Rate: 192-256
- Chroma Subsampling: 4:2:0 or 4:2:2
- Codec ID: Apple ProRes 422 HQ preferred; H.264 accepted
- Color Space: YUV
- Scan Type: Progressive Scan
- Audio Channels: 2 channel stereo
- Audio Sampling Rate: 48.0 kHz
Hulu offers what they call “a viewer-first ad experience” made up of an extensive variety of different ad products and solutions, including:
Video Commercial
This is the most ‘standard’ ad type available from Hulu, with your video playing during any “long-form content commercial breaks.” Hulu allows 7-, 15- and 30-second video commercials, and “does not accept stitched Ads.” This simply means that if advertisers want to display a 30-second commercial, they will be required to have an asset of the correct length, and can’t ‘stitch together’ two separate 15-second ads.
Ad Selector
This ad type gives the viewer greater control over their ad experience. Viewers will be given the option to choose between two or three different video ads to watch from the same advertiser. This can increase the chances that viewers will be engaged with your ad as they had some degree of choice in watching it. If no ad selection is made within 15 seconds of being presented with the options, one of the two or three available ads will be selected at random and played automatically.
According to Hulu Brand Lift Norms, 2020, products like these that “give viewers choice and control” have “result[ed] in 70% higher lifts than the average campaign on Hulu.”
Branded Entertainment Selector (BES)
Choice comes into play with Hulu’s BES ads as well, but in this scenario, they are choosing not just their ad experience, but their viewing experience as well. Viewers are given the option to watch their programming of choice with the typical commercial breaks, or to enjoy their programming uninterrupted by first watching a longer ad. We like to think of it as finishing your dinner before eating dessert! This is a popular choice for advertisers who want to tell a story with their ad—or advertise a movie or upcoming event—and need more than 15 or 30 seconds to do so.
Binge Ad
Want to reach viewers dedicating some of their downtime to an hours-long binge session, but don’t want to risk hitting them with the same ad, delivered in the same way, episode after episode? Hulu’s Binge Ad placements are designed with brand safety and a positive watching experience in mind. These “enable marketers to deliver contextually and situationally-relevant messages at the right time and place – during a viewer’s binge session.”
According to the Kantar Brand Lift Study, 2020, ads like these have been shown to “increase[ing] unaided brand awareness by 24% and ad recall by 25%.”
Interactive Living Room
These ads are designed to “foster greater affinity with a brand” through “customizable interactivity” focused on whatever elements of your brand you would like to promote. Whether you want to get the word out about a new product launch, enhanced features of an existing product, a new line of services, a company announcement, or more, these ads make it engaging and easy. Hulu notes that they offer “select functionality via third-party producing and hosting partners,” and that the production lead time is quite a bit longer than for most ad types at “four to six weeks from the receipt of the final assets.”
Max Selector (Beta)
In this ad type, viewers are given a choice over how they would like to learn about the product or service being advertised. Interactive templates are designed to create “a more engaging and immersive choice-based ad experience.”
Branded Slate
Advertisers are given the opportunity to reach audiences before the show has even begun with Branded Slate custom title cards. These brief, static video ads feature your logo with “Presented by” text, with voiceover audio that identifies your brand as the sponsor. Hulu also offers Branded Slate ads specifically tailored to entertainment clients.
Premium Slate
This 7-second ad type is similar to the aforementioned Branded Slate ads, but allows for advertisers to include “their own video, dynamic visuals, and sound” as opposed to a static video with voiceover. If preferred, you can still opt for the voiceover to be handled by Hulu talent, but it is not required as it is with the Branded Slate ads. Hulu also offers Premium Slate ads specifically tailored to entertainment clients.
GatewayGo
These unique ads are designed with conversions in mind, bringing together “Hulu’s traditional living room video ads with action-oriented prompts and personalized offers.” GatewayGo ads harness “second screen enablement technologies such as QR codes and push notifications” by “shifting conversion actions from the TV to mobile devices.” Viewers who wish to learn more can simply scan the QR code using their phone—which is likely within reach, if not in their hand—or choose to receive notifications.
According to a 2020 Hulu Internal Study, “6 in 10 viewers like that they can discover and act on deals with GatewayGO.” For these ad types, Hulu strongly recommends 30-second placements “to increase engagement,” though the minimum required length is just 15-seconds.
Pause Ad
Pause ads are unique in that they reach viewers who have decided they are ready for a break by pressing the pause button, with the ad serving as a screensaver of sorts. These offer an ideal opportunity to reach viewers in the least intrusive way possible, and give you significant opportunity to increase brand awareness—particularly for viewers who pause often, and for longer periods of time.
Poster Marquee Ad
Want to entice viewers to watch a specific series or theatrical release? This ad type makes it possible by leveraging “existing coming soon design components to promote a trailer for an upcoming title.” Hulu recommends that these should ideally be an “extended trailer,” with 15-second and 30-second ad spots not recommended.
Cover Story Brand Placement
Image Source: https://advertising.hulu.com/ad-products/cover-story-brand-placement/
For this ad type, the only thing Hulu requires is your logo, which will be showcased directly within the Hulu homepage alongside the “Presented By” notation, as shown above. Thanks to their prominent placement, these ads are ideal for increasing exposure, and enhancing brand recognition.
Sponsored Collection Brand Placement
Image Source: https://advertising.hulu.com/ad-products/sponsored-collection-brand-placement/
This placement offers “advertisers extended ownership of a collection sponsorship through logo placement adjacent to content in Hulu’s UI across devices.” As shown in the above example where “Newly Added TV” programs are “Presented by LOGO” (your logo here!), your sponsorship displays in a highly visual location that naturally draws in viewers’ eyes.
Promoted Content Marquee Ad
This unique advertising option “mimics the existing Hulu UI design and only supports long-form full-length episodes or feature films.” Because “Hulu viewers already recognize this design to promote content that is available for them to watch,” they may not even realize what they’re seeing is an ad.
*Note: The ad units mentioned are almost exclusively available via guaranteed IOs (national or local) and not the audience-driven methods.
Best Practices for Hulu Advertising Campaigns
Whether you’re promoting a new product, driving subscriptions, or raising brand awareness, these best practices will help you maximize the impact of your Hulu ads and connect with your target audience effectively. Let’s explore the essential tactics and insights for creating high-performing Hulu ad campaigns.
Follow Creative Best Practices for Video Campaigns
Adhere to Ad Specs – Always adhere to the platform’s ad specifications to ensure your video displays correctly across different devices and platforms. This includes guidelines on resolution, aspect ratio, file format, and maximum file size.
Build a Strong Hook – Grab the viewer’s attention within the first 3-5 seconds. This can be achieved through visually striking imagery, compelling storytelling, or posing a thought-provoking question. The key is to pique curiosity and entice viewers to continue watching.
Consistent Branding is Key – Maintain consistent branding across your video campaigns to reinforce brand recognition and recall. This includes using your logo prominently at the beginning and end of the ad, as well as incorporating consistent color schemes, fonts, and messaging that align with your brand identity.
Stick with Simple Messaging – Focus on communicating a single, specific idea or message in your video ad. Avoid overcrowding the ad with too much information, as this can overwhelm viewers and dilute the effectiveness of your message. Keep it simple, clear, and memorable.
Use Text for Emphasis – Use text overlays strategically to highlight key messaging or calls to action in your video ad. This ensures that important information is conveyed effectively, especially for viewers who may be watching with the sound off.
Provide Variety and Freshness – Rotate your video ads regularly to prevent audience fatigue and maintain engagement. Experiment with different creative strategies, visuals, and messaging to keep your ads fresh and appealing. This also allows for A/B testing to determine which creatives resonate best with your target audience.
Utilize Audience Targeting – Tailor your creative content to resonate with the specific interests, preferences, and demographics of your target audience. This may involve customizing the storyline, imagery, and messaging to appeal to different audience segments and maximize relevance and impact.
By incorporating these best practices into your video campaigns, you can enhance their effectiveness and drive better results in terms of engagement, conversion, and brand awareness.
Use Hulu’s Targeting Capabilities Wisely
Hulu Ad Manager empowers you with a robust suite of targeting options to reach your ideal audience. Here’s how to leverage them effectively:
Audience Targeting:
- Demographics – Reach viewers based on age, gender, income, and parental status. This allows you to tailor your message to resonate with specific segments.
- Lifestyle Interests – Target users based on their interests and hobbies. For example, target fitness enthusiasts with ads for your activewear line. (Explore the full range of interest categories within Hulu Ad Manager).
- Behavioral Targeting – Go beyond demographics by targeting viewers based on their past purchase behavior or browsing habits. This can significantly increase campaign relevance.
Content Targeting:
- Genre Targeting – Place your ads within specific genres (e.g., comedy, sports, documentaries) relevant to your product or service. This ensures your message reaches viewers actively seeking content aligned with your offering.
- Programmatic Targeting – Target specific shows or programs on Hulu where your ideal audience is likely to be watching. This allows for highly focused ad placement.
Location Targeting:
- Geographic Targeting – Reach viewers within specific cities, zip codes, Designated Marketing Areas (DMAs), or regions. This is ideal for promoting local businesses or service-based offerings with a geographical focus.
Pro Tips for Smart Targeting:
- Combine Targeting Methods – Utilize a combination of audience and content targeting for maximum reach and relevance. For example, target viewers interested in fitness (audience) while placing your ads within workout-related shows (content).
- Leverage Lookalike Audiences – Expand your reach by targeting audiences similar to your existing customers.
- Test and Refine – Don’t be afraid to experiment with different targeting combinations and monitor performance metrics to optimize your campaigns for better results.
By strategically using Hulu’s targeting options, you can ensure your ads reach the right people at the right time, maximizing campaign effectiveness and ROI.
Measure and Optimize Campaigns Based on Performance
Data is king when it comes to optimizing your Hulu ad campaigns. Hulu offers advertisers varying measurement and attribution insights for their campaigns, which depend in part on how the ads were purchased. 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. Third-parties like Tinuiti offer more omnichannel campaign analysis options.
Here’s how to leverage Tinuiti’s expertise to achieve peak performance:
Set SMART Goals and Benchmarks
It’s crucial to begin by defining your objective with a clear SMART goal that aligns with your overarching marketing strategy. This goal should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Once your objective is established, it’s essential to establish benchmarks by leveraging historical data from past campaigns or industry averages. These benchmarks will help set realistic expectations and guide your efforts in tracking key metrics such as impressions, clicks, and conversions throughout the campaign.
Continuous Optimization
At Tinuiti, our omnichannel campaign analysis allows us to compare your Hulu campaign’s performance with other marketing channels like social media and email, giving you a holistic understanding of how customers engage with your brand across different platforms. But it’s not just about data – our team of experts dives deep, uncovering hidden patterns within the data and translating them into actionable insights.
These insights then fuel data-driven recommendations for optimizing your Hulu campaign. We might suggest adjustments to your targeting strategies, ad creatives, or even budget allocation to ensure you achieve the best possible results. We can also analyze viewer fatigue and recommend A/B testing new ad variations, keeping your audience engaged and maximizing the effectiveness of your Hulu advertising.
Putting it into Practice
After a few weeks of your campaign running, revisit your initial benchmarks to evaluate progress. Don’t just rely on surface-level data, leverage omnichannel analysis to understand what elements are resonating and which areas need improvement. This comprehensive analysis allows you to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of your targeting, ad creatives, and budget allocation.
By taking a data-driven approach and utilizing Tinuiti’s expertise, you can continuously measure, optimize, and refine your Hulu campaigns, driving maximum impact and achieving your marketing objectives.
Best Examples of Hulu Ads
Let’s dive into some of the most memorable and effective Hulu ad campaigns that have left a lasting impression on audiences.
Filippo Berio Interactive Ads
Image Source: https://advertising.hulu.com/brand-stories/filippo-berio/
Filippo Berio is a brand best known for their selection of olive oils and vinegars, with a legacy tracing back more than 150 years. Their thoughtful use of interactive ad formats helped them in connecting with potential customers, with their Hulu ad campaign resulting in a “2x lift in brand favorability”, and a “3x lift in brand consideration.”
- Filippo Berio’s use of the Interactive Living Room ad type “was especially impactful as an awareness-driver, highlighted by a +44% lift in brand awareness and +64% lift in message association”
- Other ad types were included in the campaign as well, including standard and situational ads
ThirdLove Contextually Relevant Original Sponsorships
Image Source: https://advertising.hulu.com/brand-stories/thirdlove/
ThirdLove is a lingerie and loungewear company that focuses on body positivity and inclusivity in their marketing, and importantly, their range of products and sizes. The brand crafted a Hulu advertising strategy that aimed to enhance “awareness and overall consideration for their products across women of all demographics” with ads that ran “alongside premium and contextually-relevant Original content.”
ThirdLove saw results that outperformed “both industry and Hulu retail norms,” in part by advertising during women-produced content, and content that focuses on themes and issues that are of importance to women. This Hulu campaign included:
- Co-branded ads at the start of every episode of Mrs. America
- Creative that included a CTA and a discount code that could be accessed by “visiting a unique URL tied to the Hulu Original series, Little Fires Everywhere”
Best Strategy for Hulu Advertising [from the experts]
Experimentation is at the heart of all statistically-significant data, and Hulu makes experimentation easy and affordable. With more than a dozen distinct ad types to choose from—and an array of ad lengths to suit all advertising needs and goals—you are provided with all the necessary tools to find the ideal methods to reach new and existing audiences.
With Hulu ads, there is no shortage of innovative options to choose from, and we encourage you to experiment extensively, but also strategically. No matter how sizable your streaming ads budget, no brand can afford to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. But you can thoughtfully design combinations of differing visual components, and ad lengths, to see which resonate best with viewers.
These learnings can then be applied across similar streaming platforms as well, many of which won’t have the same robust inventory of options to experiment with.
According to a Nielsen CTV Analytics study, 62% of Hulu viewers never saw a brand’s ad campaign on linear TV, making Hulu a critical partner to brands trying to reach new audiences or their full target audience. And with Hulu’s ability to audience-target based on CRM matching or behavioral segments, Hulu is an important partner in delivering addressable TV at scale.
If you’re interested in advertising on OTT/Streaming TV, check out Tinuiti’s TV & Audio advertising services.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by Tara Johnson in July 2020 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
MARKETING
Updates to data build service for better developer experiences
Optimizely Feature Experimentation users can now benefit from an average of 87% faster data file updates. The ability to generate data files in a faster and more predictable manner enables our customers to make updates to feature flags and experiments more quickly and reliably.
- Datafile build service – Performance, stability
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- Secure environments – Security
Key features
- Smoother workflow
It lets you update feature flags and experiments faster and more consistently as a seamless workflow step. - Better developer experience
Developers can expect faster and more predictable feedback when configuring feature flags during local development. - Faster execution
Product teams benefit from “kill switches” to roll back problematic features and flawed experiments to protect user experience and conversion rates.
Finally…
Speed, performance, and usability are key to delivering a better experience, and as such we are always striving to improve the performance of back-end services. Our improved datafile build service enables you to deliver feature flags and experiment changes to your end-users more quickly and reliably.
Optimizely Feature Experimentation generates a JSON datafile that represents the state of an environment in a customer’s Feature Experimentation project, this datafile is polled for and consumed by our SDKs to enable user-level decisions and tracking.
With our new datafile build service, Feature Experimentation customers will experience better performance and reliability when delivering feature flags and experiment changes to end-users.
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