FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Where did Hulu get its name? What does Hulu mean?
There’s no definition of the word "Hulu" in the English language, but it took us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we're building. Our hope is that "Hulu," as an empty vessel, will come to embody our (admittedly ambitious) never-ending mission, which is to help you find and enjoy the world's premier content when, where and how you want it, for free.
When the name Hulu was first considered, it was discussed in the context of its Chinese translation (as several Hulu employees are of Chinese descent).
Two interesting translations of "hulu" in Mandarin:
- A gourd. In ancient times, the gourd was used in China as a "holder of precious things". That appealed to us given the premium content-focused mission of Hulu.
- Interactive recording (which is a secondary definition).
What is Hulu’s relationship with NBC Universal, News Corporation and The Walt Disney Company?
NBC Universal, News Corporation and The Walt Disney Company share in the ownership stake of the company, each holding permanent seats on the board of directors. Additionally, as content providers, NBC Universal, News Corporation and The Walt Disney Company bring shows, movies and clips to the Hulu video library.
Who sits on Hulu’s Board of Directors?
Currently, Hulu’s Board of Directors includes executives from NBC Universal, Fox, The Walt Disney Company, Providence Equity Partners and Hulu, including:
- Al Dobron, Providence Equity Partners
- Anne Sweeney, Disney
- Dan Fawcett, Fox
- Jason Kilar, Hulu
- Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal
- Jonathan Nelson, Providence Equity Partners
- Kevin Mayer, Disney
- Mike Lang, Fox
- Peter Chernin, News Corp
- Robert Iger, Disney
- Salil Mehta, NBC Universal
Learn more about Hulu’s executive team here: www.hulu.com/about/executive_team.
How many people does Hulu currently employ?
Currently, Hulu employs approximately 150 people in four offices across Los Angeles, New York, Beijing and Chicago. Hulu’s team has been custom built for its mission: the creation of a high-quality online video service that users, content partners and advertisers unabashedly love.
Where are Hulu’s corporate offices?
Hulu currently has four offices in the U.S. and China, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Beijing. Hulu’s headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
Can you tell me more about the $100 Million Providence Equity Partner investment?
Announced in October 2007, Providence Equity Partners, the leading global private equity firm specializing in media, entertainment, communications and information companies, invested $100 million in Hulu. Providence also has representation on Hulu’s board of directors.
When did Hulu officially launch?
Hulu officially opened its doors to the public on March 12th, 2008. Prior the company’s launch, Hulu spent nearly six months in private beta, getting critical feedback from select users.
What are Hulu’s main business goals?
Hulu is focused on helping people find and enjoy the world’s premium content when, where and how they want it anytime in the U.S. Our goal has always been to serve all of our customers, which include users, content providers and advertisers, with a high-quality online video experience built around premium content.
How does Hulu make money?
Hulu is a free online service for consumers that generates revenue from advertising sales. Ad revenue comes from the ad impressions generated from Hulu.com, video streams from our distribution partners’ websites and from the embeddable Hulu video player.
What does Hulu’s target audience look like? Who is the typical Hulu user today?
Currently, the majority of Hulu’s audience is evenly distributed between men and women in the 18-49 age range.
What is the revenue split between Hulu and its content partners?
Hulu does not disclose the business or financial terms of any of its content agreements.
What does Hulu’s deal structures look like with advertising and distribution partners?
Hulu does not disclose the business or financial terms of any of its advertising and distribution agreements.
How does Hulu see the development of online video industry in the future?
Ultimately, we think that users want to consume media on their terms. We’re strong believers in the ideology that media is an impulse business, so making online video easy-to-use and consume when, where and how people want is where we’re headed in the future.
NBC, FOX and ABC already distribute their content through a number of online channels including their own websites. Why do they need Hulu?
As a content aggregator, Hulu has assembled a vast library of premium, professionally produced videos that provide users with a broad experience from more than 190 content providers. While NBC.com, FOX.com and ABC.com build deep online experiences devoted to their own content, Hulu provides one place where users can easily find and discover their favorites across many content providers.
Who and what are your main competitors?
The main competitors to Hulu are the various piracy services that enable users with the ability to illegally access premium content for free, without the permission of the content owner.
Is there a timetable for Hulu’s international rollout?
Currently, Hulu is a U.S. service only. While we have every intention to make Hulu's growing content lineup available worldwide sometime in the future, we don't have a timetable or any news regarding expansion at this time. To accomplish this goal, Hulu must clear the rights for each show or film in each specific geographic region, which will take time. We're encouraged by how many content providers have already been working along these lines so that their programs can be available over the Internet to a much larger, global audience.
What markets/regions can we expect Hulu to offer its service in next?
Our first priority is to build a compelling service in the U.S. In parallel, we are working with content partners to acquire distribution rights and licenses to bring the Hulu experience to users in additional markets globally.
What plans are there to offer Hulu on other platforms such as the TV or mobile devices in the U.S. and beyond?
Hulu is passionate about bringing users premium programming when, where and how they want it. While Hulu currently is a free, ad-supported online service intended for the PC, Hulu listens closely to user feedback to help develop its plans for future versions of the service.
Does Hulu offer commercial-free downloads for purchase?
No. Currently, Hulu is focused on offering free, ad-supported streaming videos. That said, we believe in listening closely to user feedback to help us determine our next investments in how to help people enjoy premium content online.
How does Hulu see the development of online video industry in the future?
Ultimately, we think that users want to consume media on their terms. We strongly believe that media is an impulse business, so making online video easy to use and consume when, where and how people want is where we’re headed in the future.
What is Hulu’s policy on content availability? Once videos are on Hulu, do you have rights to them forever?
First, our goals are aligned with our users: we’d like to keep as many videos up on Hulu and our distribution partners' sites for as long as possible. However, content retention depends on many things, including streaming clearances granted by our content providers. Hulu is continuously working with content owners to keep videos up as long as contracts will allow. So far, many of our content partners have been very helpful and share our desire to provide choice and depth of videos on Hulu.
In regard to specific reasons why a video may be taken down, there isn't one single reason why a video might expire off of the service. Streaming clearances can be determined by any number of legal or business agreements that differ from show to show. Music clearances, impending DVD sales and syndication sales are just a few reasons why an episode, entire season or movie may expire.
Are there any restrictions for users to embed videos?
Generally speaking, we encourage viral distribution of Hulu videos. That said, viral distribution of premium content is still a fairly new concept and we will evaluate usage of the Hulu player on a case-by-case basis.
How come Hulu doesn't have a partnership with CBS?
Hulu is engaged in discussions with a variety of potential content providers and is always looking to expand its library in order to bring the best selection of content to our users. That said, users can still find many of their favorite shows online through Hulu’s innovative search that not only give you results for Hulu.com, but also provides links to shows on other web sites. At Hulu, the user comes first, and ultimately our goal is to provide people with what they are looking for, anytime, anywhere, legally and for free.
Will Hulu support user-generated content?
Hulu is focused on helping users find and enjoy the world’s premium content when, where and how they want it. Hulu focuses exclusively on providing users with a source for premium, professionally produced content.
Who can I contact regarding opportunities to bring content to the Hulu service?
If you have content that you would like to share with the Hulu audience, you can email
content@hulu.com.
With the launch of your HD gallery, is your intention to make all Hulu videos available in HD?
Hulu is committed to leveraging and developing innovative technologies that deliver the best possible online video viewing experience. To that end, the
Hulu HD gallery is the first step in making HD quality videos available on Hulu.
What is the resolution of your HD videos?
HD videos on Hulu are streamed at 1280 x 720 resolution.
We continue to receive closed-captioning data for various shows, and we are working hard to add it to the service in a timely manner. The closed-captioning data used for broadcast TV isn't easily translated for online use, so we're investigating alternative solutions to increase our selection of closed-captioning coverage.
What is Hulu’s advertising strategy?
Hulu’s top priority is to create a service that advertisers, content providers and users unabashedly love. Our strong user experience drives higher engagement which results in higher advertising effectiveness. Hulu has 25% the video ad load of traditional television minimizing clutter and strives to have a strong relationship between the amount of advertising viewed and the amount of premium content consumed. Elegant companion banners are placed in close proximity to the player to further reinforce brand messaging.
Hulu is committed to the continual improvement of online ad effectiveness through innovating new and more interactive ad formats and models that advertisers want. We work very closely with advertisers to continually innovate, experiment and find the right marketing solutions for their brands.
What are the benefits of advertising on Hulu to your partners?
At Hulu, the priority is to create a superior advertising environment by focusing on a quality user experience and to continuously improve viewing, participation and engagement through innovation. Advertisers benefit from Hulu’s environment, which is clean, simple and elegant, and has an audience that is engaged in the viewing experience. Additionally, with Hulu’s substantial and growing audience, advertisers’ brands can reach consumers wherever they’re online, whether it’s on Hulu, through our distribution partners, or on the network of viral video players that have been embedded across the web.
What kind of advertising format do you have?
Currently, Hulu offers three types of advertising formats, including Standard Ad Formats, Premium Ad Formats and Hulu Exclusive Formats.
Standard Ad Formats:
- 15 or 30 second Video spots that run before, after and during an ad break (one video per ad break)
- 300x60 and 300x250 Companion banners that accompany video spots and link directly to advertiser’s site
- Overlay brand bars that appear over content at the bottom of the video and include a logo and targeted message. Users can click to opt in and play the full video ad
- Overlay Logo Bugs are simple brand logos that appear in the bottom right corner of the screen. Users can click to opt in and play the full video ad
Premium Ad Formats:
- Premium Branded Slates are presented in-stream before the content begins. They feature logo, voiceover and standard ‘Brought to you by…” messaging, a short video clip or rich media that reinforces specific imagery or messaging
- Branded Canvases are a unique opportunity to skin the area around the player for maximum brand affinity in conjunction with the client’s video commercial break
- Premium Interactive Canvases are a unique opportunity to skin the area around the player using rich media to maximize brand affinity in conjunction with a client’s video commercial break.
Hulu Exclusives:
- Ad Selectors are ad units that allow the user to control their entire ad experience during video playback. They choose a category from 2 or 3 options, and video ads from their selection play throughout the video
- Branded Entertainment Selectors are ad units that allow the user to control their entire advertising experience during video playback, giving users the ability to choose between a long-form video commercial in exchange for an interruption-free viewing experience, or a standard ad experience with ad breaks within content
What types of advertisements have seen the most growth/success?
Since launching in March 2008, Hulu has continued to innovate and create various ad formats. Some of the successful advertising formats include:
- Ad selector – an opportunity for the user to pick an advertisement. This is great for clients with several products in the line. The user gets some choice and control and it’s a great feedback opportunity for advertisers.
- Branded Entertainment Selector – another opportunity to let the user control their experience while creating an enhanced messaging opportunity for advertisers. With this unit, a user can choose to view either a longer-form movie trailer up front or a series of commercials as they view the content. If they choose the trailer, the content is viewed without ad interruptions, though they will see periodic overlays. If not, they’ll see ad spots running during regular commercial breaks.
When do the advertisements play on Hulu videos?
Hulu strives to build a great consumer experience and so far we’ve had the benefit of constructive user feedback to help guide us. Through this feedback, we’ve learned that our users prefer to have a different ad experiences for long-form content than for short-form content. The length and placement of ad units varies based on the length of the content. Whether it’s a clip, full episode or movie, Hulu’s online ad experiences are customized to the particular length of each video.
For long-form videos (full episodes and movies), advertisements on Hulu appear during normal commercial breaks seen on traditional broadcast television. Generally, Hulu users will only see approximately 25% of the ads that they would have seen if watching the same show on television. Hulu also shows a limited number of display advertisements as companion banners to 30- and 15-second spots.
For short-form videos (clips), we show a variation of overlay ads, companion display banners and end-card advertisements.
Can you name some of companies that advertise on Hulu?
To date, Hulu has been fortunate to work with a number of advertisers including brand names such as Johnson & Johnson, Honda, McDonald’s, Visa, American Express, Target, Best Buy, Chili’s, DirectTV, GM, Intel, Nissan, State Farm, Unilever, Wal-Mart, Cisco and Proctor & Gamble.
How is Hulu’s advertising inventory sold? How much does it cost?
Advertising on Hulu is currently sold on a CPM basis. Hulu cannot discuss the financial or contractual details of its advertiser relationships.
Is Hulu’s advertising revenue split with content and distribution partners?
Hulu cannot disclose the financial details of our partnerships.
What sort of response are you receiving from advertisers?
To date, the response from advertisers has been extremely positive. At Hulu, one of our top priorities has been to create an excellent ad environment by focusing on a high-quality user experience and to continuously improve viewing, participation and engagement through innovation. Over 100 advertisers on Hulu have benefited from an environment that is clean, simple and well-curated and an audience that is fully engaged in the viewing experience.
How much revenue does Hulu generate through online advertising?
We do not disclose the business or financial terms of the advertising agreements.
What initiatives has Hulu taken to drive more advertising to the site?
Hulu’s approach has always been less is more. We believe, and research has proven, that fewer ads can lead to greater message recall which ultimately enables a better user experience on Hulu. That said, we’re always experimenting and finding new ways to optimize the ad experience on Hulu.
Will Hulu always be ad-supported or are there any plans to charge for additional services?
Hulu’s goal is to help people find and enjoy the world’s premium content when, where and how they want it. We believe that offering free, ad-supported content is a good first step toward achieving that goal and that it is the model that will resonate with largest group of users today. That said, we also believe in listening closely to user feedback to help guide our future plans.
What is Hulu’s distribution strategy?
Ultimately, we think that users want to consume media on their terms. We strongly believe that media is an impulse business, so making online video easy-to-use and consume when, where and how peeople want is where we’re headed in the future.
To that point, Hulu wants to provide consumers with the ability to enjoy great content where they are already spending much of their time online. That means being in the neighborhoods across the web like AOL, iMDB, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! We are excited that our partners and their users will have access to Hulu videos in places they already go.
What do the deal structures look like with Hulu’s distributions partners?
Hulu does not disclose the business or financial terms of any of its distribution agreements.
How does Hulu select new distribution partners?
Our goal is to partner with top entertainment and social networking sites where people are spending a good portion of their time online. We aspire to be in these types of neighborhoods across the web.
How many Hulu video players have been embedded across the web?
Currently, there are more than 6 million Hulu players embedded on over 123,000 websites.
How much of Hulu’s technology has been outsourced vs. built in-house?
Hulu has a team of engineers who develop the Hulu service and platform. All customer-facing services and features have been developed in-house to ensure that we have full control over the customer experience. For a portion of the back-end content management services, Hulu has leveraged technology from several trustworthy technology partners.
Who are some of Hulu’s top technology partners?
Hulu leverages several technology partners to help provide a high-quality and trusted service for our users including Akamai, who manages our content delivery network (CDN), and Adobe who is Hulu’s video player platform provider.
Can you add more closed-captioning to your service?
We continue to receive closed-captioning data for various shows, and we are working hard to add it to the service in a timely manner. The closed-captioning data used for broadcast TV isn't easily translated for online use, so we're investigating alternative solutions to increase our selection of closed-captioned videos.
With the launch of your HD gallery, is your intention to make all Hulu videos available in HD?
Hulu is committed to leveraging and developing innovative technologies that deliver the best possible online video viewing experience. To that end, the
Hulu HD gallery is the first step in making HD quality videos available on Hulu.
What is the resolution of your HD videos?
HD videos on Hulu are streamed at 1280 x 720 resolution.
What is the quality at which videos will be streamed on Hulu?
Hulu videos are streamed as Flash video files (FLV files). These files are encoded using the On2 Flash VP6 codec that is supported on Flash Player 8.0 and above (which is installed on more than 98% of computers in the U.S.).
Hulu currently supports four different streams including 480kbps, 700kbps, 1,000kbps (an H.264 encode that is not on On2 VP6) and 2.5Mbps.
Why would I watch videos on Hulu when I have a larger selection of premium content through pirate services?
Hulu is a free and easy-to-use online video service that legally aggregates premium, professionally-produced content. We’re focused on delivering a high-quality viewing experience that requires no downloads and is accessible when, where and how users want.
Who and what are your main competitors?
We believe the main competitors to Hulu are the various piracy services where users can illegally get to premium content.
What’s your view on peer-to-peer networks and other forms of illegal filesharing of copyrighted material? Is Hulu a strategy against this?
Piracy is a problem that exists industry wide. By building a compelling service for end users that is easy-to-use and free, we believe that Hulu is a great platform for content providers who want to legally monetize their content online.
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