Hulu's Marketing Strategies: Needs, Objectives, and Insights

Lombardi 1 Needs & Objectives Anthony Lombardi Southern New Hampshire University MKT 311 Professor Finui 7/9/2023

Lombardi 2 Company Overview  Company: Hulu  Product or Service: Hulu provides thousands of TV series and movies through its streaming library as well as live TV to members who subscribe to the Live TV service.  Marketing Strategies: Hulu uses a variety of marketing strategies to attract new customers while also working to maintain current customers. One very uncommon and effective form of advertising they use is leveraging press releases. Many companies use press releases to communicate announcements and changes to the media, however, Hulu uses them for marketing purposes by using well-written and informative press releases that also include promotional elements such as trailers and images, and as a result, the company receives more exposure as the media and followers share the press conference (Abouemera, 2022). Another marketing strategy that Hulu uses very well is collaborating with influencers who align the most with the overall campaign rather than choosing influencers based strictly on popularity like many other companies. For example, when Hulu wanted to promote a dating show on the platform, they decided to collaborate with someone who is well known for their role on The Bachelorette, Andi Dorfman (Abouemera, 2022). Lastly, Hulu offers 7 days of the service for free to new customers. This is a great way to attract new customers who want to try out the service for a week for free before deciding to either continue the service or cancel.  Current Mobile Marketing Presence: One of the mobile marketing strategies that Hulu uses is that it “heavily relies on Google AdWords campaigns to ensure that its search results come up first in search rankings for its related keywords like streaming TV” (Green, 2017). Another mobile strategy that they use is collecting data on users and then

Lombardi 3 using that data to create highly personalized advertisements and campaigns tailored to specific customers additionally, they use this data to make the customer’s experience highly individualized as well by pointing out series and movies that align with the customer’s interests. This is a great strategy to help the company maintain its current customer base by making them feel like the company cares about them and doesn’t just see them as other subscribers. It is also a great way to build loyalty between the company and the customers. Another mobile strategy that Hulu uses very effectively is social media. Instead of using social media to promote products and drive sales, Hulu uses it to engage with its customers and build long-lasting relationships and loyalty (Abouemera, 2022). Lastly, Hulu sends occasional personalized emails that contain updates on content, personalized recommendations, and special offers that help the customers stay up to date on what the service offers and find series and movies that meet their interests. Competition  Competitor: Netflix  Competitor’s Mobile Strategy: Netflix and Hulu have similar mobile marketing strategies. For example, just like Hulu, Netflix focuses greatly on search engine optimization. Both companies take advantage of keywords and secondary keywords to push their company to the top of search results. Netflix also has a strong social media presence that they use in a similar way to Hulu. While Netflix does occasionally use social media to promote their product, they spend most of the time on social media interacting with the audience through methods like surveys and conversations with

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Lombardi 4 customers on various social media platforms. Just like with Hulu, the main benefit that Netflix sees by doing this is building strong and loyal relationships with its customers. Another similarity between Netflix and Hulu and their mobile strategies is personalization. As a Netflix subscriber, the content of your home page is personalized for you, allowing you to find more TV series, documentaries, and movies that relate to your personal interests (Tas, 2020). Lastly, another common mobile strategy that Netflix and Hulu share are personalized emails that recommend shows and movies based on customer interests, as well as changes to the streaming catalog and promotions.  Competitor Advantage: To be honest, based on the strategies of both companies that I compared, there doesn’t seem to be much of an advantage for Netflix over Hulu when it comes to their mobile presence. Both companies use very similar and effective methods to both attract new customers and build relationships and loyalty with current customers. However, according to FlixPatrol (2023), which is a website that shows the number of subscribers that various streaming services have, Netflix has significantly more subscribers and is leading the category with over 232 million subscribers, while Hulu is 8 th on the list with only just over 48 million subscribers. Based on the tremendous subscriber difference it is safe to assume that Netflix has been more successful in its marketing strategies, however, since both companies share similar strategies there may be other factors coming into play such as a larger steaming content selection. I believe a strong mobile marketing campaign that relates heavily to a new trending show or movie on the service would be a great way for Hulu to attract new customers and make a dent in the subscriber difference in the near future.

Lombardi 5 Target  Customer Segment: 18-34-year-olds in the middle and upper class.  Main Characteristics: The main characteristics of the target market for my mobile campaign are people who spend a lot of time on social media and watching television and/or movies. Another characteristic of my target market is people who pay attention to viral trends and will be the most influenced by using viral trends in advertising and marketing. Justification:  As of May 2021, people between the ages of 18 and 34 account for 57% of Hulu’s subscribers (Statista, 2022). A continued focus on that age group using mobile marketing strategies would be the most effective way to drive growth.  The upper and middle class are the people who would be most willing to and able to pay for a monthly streaming service. Many people from the lower class may refuse to pay for the service or may not have an internet connection to use for the service to begin with.  People who are already spending a lot of time watching movies and television or may even be using another streaming service are a great place to start to try to find new customers. Promoting to them what the service has to offer to them and how it is better than competitors can be an effective way to bring new customers over from cable or other streaming services.  In today’s world, an overwhelming majority of people use social media. People between the ages of 18 and 34 spend the most time on social media as well. For example, looking at the platform YouTube, people in that age range make up a staggering 67% of the

Lombardi 6 audience (Zhou, 2023). Prioritizing that age range with the use of social media mobile marketing strategies would be tremendously effective.  Lastly, the use of trending shows and movies would also be most effectively targeted to the 18-34-year-old age range as well. They tend to be the people keeping up with current pop culture trends the most, and by taking advantage of those trends in marketing you can attract many new customers from that demographic. References Abouemera, R. (2022). Hulu’s Marketing Has Introduced Affordable Television for Everyone. Media Shower. https://mediashower.com/blog/hulus-marketing/ Flix Patrol. (2023). Streaming Services by Subscribers in the World. Retrieved from: https://flixpatrol.com/streaming-services/subscribers/ Green, M. (2017). Discover the Path Hulu Uses to Market Its Position. Content Writers. https://contentwriters.com/blog/discover-path-hulu-uses-market-position/ Statista. (2022). Share of Adults with a Hulu Subscription in the United States as of May 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/742117/hulu-with-live-tv- subscription-adults-usa-by-age/ Tas, G. (2020). Key Takeaways from Netflix’s Digital Marketing Strategy. Digital Agency Network. https://digitalagencynetwork.com/key-takeaways-from-netflix-digital- marketing-strategy/

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Lombardi 7 Zhou, L. (2023). Social Media Demographics: The Definitive Guide in 2023. Retrieved from: https://www.luisazhou.com/blog/social-media-demographics/#:~:text=Over%20half %20of%20the%20platform%27s,55%2D64%20(3%25) .

Milestone 1 needs and objectives

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