Hulu

Thousands of Hulu subscribers last night posted online complaints that they could not log in, making it impossible to view their live and Video on Demand services. The technical issue on Tuesday night seem to begin around 10 p.m. ET. It’s unclear how many people were affected, but Downdetector.com, which tracks online outages, says nearly 16,000 people were simultaneously posting complaints about Hulu at the height of the problem.

Four cities in Indiana are suing Netflix and other video companies, claiming that online video providers and satellite TV operators should have to pay the same franchise fees that cable companies pay for using local rights of way.

Following up on its effort that allowed small businesses to buy advertising times through a self-serve ad manager, Hulu has launched creative advertising services for small and medium-size businesses. The effort looks to either repurpose existing video for streaming TV or to provide services for businesses that want to start from “scratch.”

Hulu is making its advertising platform more accessible to businesses with smaller marketing budgets. The streamer, which is courting more advertisers as it’s further integrated into parent company Disney, is opening up a closed beta test of a self-service ad manager to small and medium-size businesses, it said today. It’s the first self-service tool from Hulu and will give marketers the ability to start campaigns on the streamer with a minimum spend of $500.

Hulu, in its first upfront as part of The Walt Disney Co., emphasized new ways its advertisers could reach streaming viewers. Advertisers including direct-to-consumer marketers SmileDirectClub, The RealReal and SweetGreen are among the launch partners for what Hulu is calling Gateway Go, which using interactive second-screen technology to send viewers QR codes and push notifications, so that those viewers can immediately react to brand offers on their mobile devices.

Scandal, Shonda Rhimes’ primetime political drama series, is jumping from Netflix to Hulu later this month. All seven seasons of Scandal — 124 episodes in all — will begin streaming exclusively on Hulu as of May 20, when the show will no longer be on Netflix in the U.S. The series was created by Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice) and stars Kerry Washington as political fixer Olivia Pope.

Hulu’s head of ad sales Peter Naylor has left the streaming company to take a job with Snap, where he will head up U.S. ad sales. Naylor’s departure comes as Disney is folding Hulu more into its larger operations and comes two months after Randy Freer exited as CEO. In February, Hulu promoted Kelly Campbell to president to serve as his replacement under Disney direct-to-consumer chief Kevin Mayer.

According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, the employee in question immediately began self-isolation once they started experiencing symptoms. The individual is said to be recovering at home. Anyone else in the office who came into contact with the person has been informed, with those employees now required to also self-isolate and begin working from home immediately.

OTT and revived TV membership models were among the highlights of a local digital advertising conference that just managed to sneak in under the coronavirus wire.

Hulu has promoted Chief Marketing Officer Kelly Campbell to president. This comes a few weeks after Disney announced that Randy Freer would be stepping down as CEO.

Marquee Sports Network, the new channel being launched Feb 22 by the Chicago Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group, took a big step by making a carriage deal to be streamed as part of the Hulu+ Live TV lineup. It is Marquee’s first over-the-top deal with a virtual MVPD, which is important because it means Cubs fans can watch games if they cut the cord.

Further incorporating Hulu, the premium on-demand and live TV streaming service, into Walt Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer & International division has resulted in the departure of Randy Freer, Hulu’s CEO.

The Media Rating Council today revoked accreditation for measurement services from Extreme Reach, Hulu and Protected Media, and denied accreditation for a service from DoubleVerify. It also granted accreditation for services from C3 Metrics, Hulu and Flashtalking.

Hulu is preparing to roll out new forms of advertising this year — one which will allow viewers to have more say in the ads that play, and another that lets the viewer engage with the brand in question, either by getting information sent directly to their mobile phone or by using QR codes. In later months, It is also considering digital product insertion to enhance the ad opportunities within its own original programming.

The streaming-video hub is starting a trial run of new commercials aimed specifically at binge-watchers, which the company defines as subscribers who watch three or more episodes of the same series consecutively. Over the course of a three-episode session, a specific ad in the last commercial break of each of the first two episodes offers humorous commentary from Hulu and a specific marketer, and acknowledge that a binge session has begun.

Despite an aggressive effort to drive sign-ups, Wall Street worries about the long-term value of Hulu’s promo push.

Premium subscription video platform Hulu pulled in $670 million in advertising — and $1.27 billion in subscription fees — according to a recent analysis of Walt Disney’s yearly 10K filing for 2019.

HBO Max, Peacock and the animated show’s current streaming home Hulu are all in the mix.

Some 42% of millennials say they’d be likely to subscribe to the offering of Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+, a Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult survey finds.

After seeing Netflix eat away at their TV businesses, legacy media are targeting the streaming rights for classics like Seinfeld and The Office.