Hulu makes buying ads easier for small businesses

“We want to help businesses of all sizes reach their target audience, not just large companies,” says Matt Koontz, Director of Product Management at Hulu, when describing their new self-service ads platform. 

Hulu is transforming the streaming advertising market by launching a self service ads platform called Hulu Ad Manager that will make it easier for small- and medium-sized businesses to enter the world of streaming television ads. 

Regular TV ads are typically out of monetary reach for small businesses, and with more and more households switching to streaming TV, Hulu has created an effective and plausible way for small- and medium- sized businesses to reach their audiences. With a minimum ad spend of $500, small businesses can finally afford to stream ads.

Hulu’s self-service solution allows brands to buy and manage ad campaigns directly from Hulu, just as Facebook and Google have been doing for years. Businesses can structure their campaigns by choosing when they would like to start and stop and targeting their audiences by gender, age, location, interest, and program genre. Advertisers can also stay updated on impressions and money spent on their campaigns. 

Koontz states that what differentiates Hulu from other advertising platforms is that they “provide a pristine, brand-safe environment.” Hulu understands the importance of brand authenticity and claims that “Advertisers on Hulu don’t have to worry about the content their ads are paired with – they will never show their ad alongside harmful messaging that goes against their mission and values” (Koontz). 

As of now, the first version of the Hulu Ad Manager is still pretty basic. For instance, advertisers cannot include interactive features, like call-to-action buttons, and they can only utilize one piece of ad creative per campaign. In addition, while advertisers can keep track of impressions and money spent, they will not have a detailed report showing them exactly what programs carried their ads. Nevertheless, Hulu states that they will be further developing the tool following the testing phase. 

Hulu Ad Manager is a great way for small- and medium-sized businesses to finally be able to afford streaming television advertisements. It gives them the ability to be in control of their campaigns without the confusion and cost that comes with typical television advertising. We’re eager to see what the future holds for Hulu’s new self-service platform!