Mind & Metrics is proud to announce that we are now verified partners of Hulu Advertising and Amazon Advertising. We’re excited to be able to offer our clients a wider range of ad services, and the opportunity to get their content in front of millions of new prospects.
Hulu has recently released the beta version of their Ad Manager. It’s a self-serve ad solution that allows you to set your own schedule and budget, and choose your ad length and content based on what best fits your company. This ad option is ideal for small to medium sized businesses, due to the flexibility it provides.
As for the tech giant Amazon, they need no introduction. Advertising through Amazon puts you on the radar of its 300+ million active users. They offer robust targeting options for their range of advertising and remarketing campaigns. Amazon’s ads manager is also self-serve and offers the same wiggle room as Hulu’s in terms of budget and scheduling.
Advertising on Hulu and Amazon gives businesses of all sizes and budgets access to a massive user base. Their innovative campaigns and the choices they provide make them suitable for almost everyone.
Let’s go over some of the main types of ad campaigns on each platform, as well as the targeting options they have.
How to Advertise on Hulu
Hulu boasts 82 million overall viewers, and almost 70% of those viewers are on an ad-supported plan. This works out to a pool of about 58 million people who may potentially view your ads.
Hulu has a plethora of ad campaign options, and there are multiple ways to purchase ad time on the platform. Before the release of their Self-Serve Ad Manager in 2020, to advertise on Hulu you had to connect with the Hulu ads team (or hire an agency to work with them) and collaborate to create your ad. Advertising on Hulu also required you to have a media buying budget of at least $30,000. While it is certainly worth it to take advantage of Hulu’s massive viewership, the budget, time, and resource requirements are not necessarily attainable for small companies.
Their Ad Manager, which is still in its beta iteration, is a more cost-effective and accessible option. This ad buying format accommodates companies with an ads budget of as little as $500. And no matter your size and budget, you’re on the same playing field as everyone else. Smaller companies have the same opportunity to get on TV as large organizations.
Of course, there are certain specifications and a level of quality that ads must meet to be approved by Hulu, no matter how you purchase your ads. And you need to be in contact with the Hulu ads team to get your ads in front of the right people. As we are ad partners with Hulu, we can help you get your ad finished and on the air in no time, no matter your budget or the ad type you choose.
Below are some of the main types of ad campaigns you can run on Hulu.
Types of Hulu Ads
Some of Hulu’s ad options offer an innovative viewer-first ad experience which increases engagement, since viewers have a choice of what they want to see. Some ad types are offered for both self-serve customers and those who are working with Hulu directly.
Video Commercial: For Both Direct and Self-Serve
These ads can be 15 or 30 seconds long. They’re the standard type of ad that Hulu airs, and can appear throughout any of Hulu’s full-length content. These are offered on both the direct and self-serve platforms.
Branded Slate Ads: Direct Only
These ads are shown as a short clip before the content begins. Within this category there are two options:
- Standard branded slate - 7-second static clip of your brand logo with a heading at the top of the screen stating “Presented by:”. The audio is a Hulu-provided voiceover that identifies you as the sponsor. A short, custom branded tagline can be added at the end of the voiceover.
- Premium branded slate - adds 5-second video clip of your ad along with standard branded slate title card and voiceover.
These ads are only available to customers who have an ads budget of $30,000 or higher.
Branded Entertainment Selector (BES) Ads: Direct Only
This type of ad, which is also only available to companies who are not using the self-serve Ad Manager and who have a budget of at least $30,000, gives a choice to the viewers: whether they want to watch one longer ad at the beginning of their content, or have multiple shorter ads shown throughout their watching experience. The long-form ad option gives advertisers the opportunity to create longer content that tells a story.
Ad Selector: Direct Only
Ad selector ads also give viewers a choice. Before the program starts, Hulu offers the subscriber 2 or 3 choices of ads from the same company. The viewer’s choice will then affect the subject matter of the ads that are shown for the rest of the content.
The ability to choose helps make sure the content is relevant to the viewer, providing better targeting capabilities for companies and giving the viewers a better experience.
Ad Targeting Options on Hulu
Companies can target by lots of different user information, including:
- Demographic info such as age and gender
- The location of the viewer
- The interests of the viewer
Companies can also pick which genres of content they want to show their ads on.
The Results: An Impactful Ad No Matter the Budget
Manny's Sweet Treats, a dessert spot and café based out of Long Island, NY, grew their business to new heights by advertising on Hulu. They’re a small business, and felt great about the reach they could get with Hulu ads due to Hulu’s large user base and how well-known they are. “[Advertising on Hulu] makes you feel like you’re way bigger than just a small shop,” said Hector Carvalho, the owner of Manny’s Sweet Treats.
He started out with the more traditional avenues of advertising like newspaper ads, but found that to be ineffective. So he pivoted to social media and eventually Hulu, strategizing his ad content based on what was performing the best. When he featured a certain item in his Hulu ads, he found that his customers would begin buying more of that item shortly thereafter.
Hulu ad manager has been shown to be effective for businesses of every size, and the ads can make waves whether you are marketing to a local or national audience.
You can watch the full video on Hector's story here.
Advertising on Amazon
Amazon Ads are versatile and highly customizable on every level. And with the majority of the U.S. population doing at least some of their shopping online, working with this retail giant is a must. With Amazon’s self-serve ads manager, you have the freedom to choose your budget and ad format.
Types of Amazon Ads
Here are some of the ad solutions Amazon offers. All of them are self-serve and have no minimum budget.
Sponsored Products
This is a CPC (cost-per-click) campaign, so you only pay when a customer clicks on your ad. These are individual product listings that appear at the top of search result pages on Amazon.
Sponsored Brands
With this other CPC campaign, you can showcase your brand and product portfolio. This ad appears at the top of search results and includes your brand logo, a custom headline, and a small selection of your products.
Sponsored Display Ads
These ads offer a new way to target your ideal customers, both on and off Amazon. This is a PPC program in which you can bid against other companies for ad spots, but the ads aren’t targeted by keywords. Instead, it uses AI to automatically target your ads based on customer interests and shopping behaviors, and whether they have interacted with your brand or products previously. You’ve likely seen these ads; if you’ve ever browsed Amazon for a specific item and then left a product page without purchasing, and then later an ad appeared on Facebook containing the exact product you viewed, that’s what a Sponsored Display Ad is.
You can choose which types of targeting you want to use, whether that be products, interests, or behaviors.
Advertise on Hulu and Amazon Today
The ad programs offered by these companies are not something you want to miss out on.
Want to learn more about what targeting options are available for Hulu ads? Download our free Hulu Targeting Guide and build your strategy. You can use this spreadsheet to consider all the available criteria, and select what best fits your ideal customers.
And if you're already full of ideas and want to get them on the air ASAP, reach out to us to discuss how we can make that happen.
