Streaming into 2019: Upwave partners with Hulu to measure OTT content

By Upwave March 05, 2019

Streaming into 2019: Upwave partners with Hulu to measure OTT content

Marketers can now use Upwave to measure the brand impact of ads across all Hulu platforms


Last year saw major momentum for Upwave, but 2019 already brings significant partnerships with exciting possibilities for brands and agencies. Upwave is proud to announce one of them –  that Hulu has accredited Upwave to measure its over-the-top (OTT) streamed content.
This means that brands and media buyers can target Hulu subscribers on Upwave’s Publisher Network to measure the impact of advertising.  Upwave is accredited for ad measurement on all of Hulu’s platforms, including mobile app and desktop.
After a successful testing period, Upwave’s accreditation demonstrates that Hulu is succeeding in its mission to be a leading platform for accurately and effectively measuring audiences, especially in OTT content.
Streamed TV content has presented brand marketers with unique advertising challenges, but Upwave couldn’t accept that these challenges should still stand in the way of measuring the impact of advertising on every platform or device consumers use.
It’s critical for TV advertisers to prove how advertising on OTT can influence consumers. For its part, Hulu has done extensive research on how — and with whom — its viewers watch programming. Hulu viewers are more likely to choose the service over regular TV when they are relaxing with loved ones (58 percent vs. 29 percent) or when they gather with family (47 percent  vs 38 percent).
The emergence of OTT content via connected TVs and changing viewership trends present unique issues – no browser cookies, traditional viewability measurements or linear TV’s conventional demographic-based audiences. However, Hulu is an innovator in the market, leading by testing and learning from measurement approaches and platforms.
Upwave and Hulu conducted an extensive testing period on live brand campaigns, where we proved together that we could more accurately measure the brand impact of campaigns by measuring cross-platform.  We successfully measured brand awareness, ad recall, consideration intent, favorability, message association and brand attributes. The successful pilot gave brands clear actionable insights on ad campaigns in near real-time, providing a roadmap for how all brands, agencies and media buyers can optimize advertising spends on Hulu.
Our CEO Chris Kelly sees an immediate opportunity for brands considering OTT advertising campaigns, noting that Hulu has become an advanced platform committed to helping brands better measure the brand impact of advertising
“As brands and agencies look to video-streaming platforms as a viable strategy to connect with consumers, Hulu and Upwave together are a smarter way to get the data and insights needed to create, measure or adjust ad campaigns,” Chris said.
Watching TV programming through connected devices has emerged as a mode of choice for consumers, and Hulu has shown itself to be an industry disruptor challenging the current model with better measurement and audience validation to fit evolving consumer preferences. Hulu’s trust in Upwave shows that the streaming service is enabling more holistic, consistent measurement across platforms and proves that we’re enabling better insight for advertisers on the total reach, frequency and efficacy of their streaming ad campaigns.
Reach out to us today if you’re interested in learning more!