Hulu Insight: Hammering Away on TV Attribution
We've been following closely the recent press about Thor, the television industry's collaborative effort to properly attribute business outcomes to exposure to ads on TV. We enthusiastically support this ambitious endeavor because we're here to tell you that TV advertising works! How do we know? Since Hulu is a TV platform delivered digitally, we are able to directly link exposure to ads on Hulu to an advertiser's KPIs. What we've demonstrated is that TV advertising works at driving both upper and lower funnel marketing metrics.
Television Is a Brand-Building Medium
It's no spoiler alert that television is the world's best brand-building platform, consistently driving quantifiable lifts in recall, awareness, favorability and intent. Television content viewed via on-demand streaming is certainly no exception. Last year, we posted what we learned when we extended our survey-based ad effectiveness methodology with Millward Brown to living room devices, on which 78% of Hulu viewing occurs. By tracking actual campaign exposure on OTT devices, we verified those same results: That commercials viewed in premium content on television screens deliver measurable branding lifts.
The perfect storm of effective campaigns occurs when partners can strategically align a brand's values and messaging with the content or platform. At Hulu, we call this a Custom Integrated Commercial (CIC). By leveraging first-party insights and collaborating directly with the publisher, marketers can build creative bespoke to the environment. Like a six-second vertical video ad on Snapchat or Snickers' live commercial during the Super Bowl, commercials tailored to the environment that address an audience in a unique way can achieve outsized results for marketers.
TV Ads Also Impact the Lower Funnel
Recently, credit for driving "lower funnel" marketing metrics -- those that account for actual purchase, action or conversion, and also known as last-click attribution -- have been co-opted by digital platforms. But digital platforms are not the sole domain of lower funnel marketing; television can also drive real, measurable conversion. With the launch of multiple attribution products from third-party research vendors like Nielsen Catalina Solutions and SambaTV, and capabilities like BROH: Business Results on Hulu, advertisers have the proof they have long sought in a television environment. From driving consumers to buy products, visit stores and register on websites, in each case we've proven that ads delivered on a TV platform like Hulu work.
Bottom line, television commercials on big screens embedded in premium content are marketing's sure bet, all across the marketing funnel. So to our colleagues and partners at the participating Thor media companies, we're with you on this journey. As measurement capabilities evolve and expand we'll keep wielding our hammer right along with you.
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The opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author and/or subject(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet, Inc. management or associated writers.
Julie DeTraglia
Julie DeTraglia is the Head of Ad Sales Research at Hulu where she is responsible for the development, design and implementation of ad sales research initiatives and advising Hulu’s national sales team. Prior to Hulu, Julie was SVP of Digital Research …
