Hulu Executives at Advertising Week & Cablefax 2015

Hulu-Value-Proposition_8.20.15

Monday, September 28th

4:00PM-6:00PM

Cross Screen Summit

Why Does Context Matter? Because Context Matters!

Context has always been a marketers’ best friend. Should it continue to be? With audience-based buying gaining traction across screens – what role does content relevancy play in today’s cross-screen world? Join a conversation with marketers and publishers to hear what they think matters

Moderator: Pooja Midha (SVP, Digital Ad Sales and Operations, ABC)

Panelists

  • Peter Naylor (SVP, Advertising Sales, Hulu)
  • Eric Johnson (EVP, Global Multimedia Sales, ESPN)
  • Dave O’Connor (Executive Producer, Radical Media)
  • John Partilla (CEO, Olson)
  • Jason Lopatecki (CSO, TubeMogul)

 

Tuesday, September 29th

9:30AM-10AM

IAB MIXX

Fireside Chat

  • Seth Meyers (Co-Creator of Hulu Original, The Awesomes)
  • Mike Hopkins (CEO, Hulu)
  • Randall Rothenberg (President & CEO, Interactive Advertising Bureau)

 

Tuesday, September 29th

11:00AM-11:45AM

Direct to Consumer, OTT, and the Future of Video Entertainment

The long-predicted OTT and D2C world has arrived. While 2015 has been a year of expansion and experimentation, with an increasingly crowded marketplace characterized by players jockeying for position, where will the industry go from here? Will 2016 be the year of rationalization and consolidation, separating the few from the many? Amidst this frenzy of activity, all participants in the value chain – pure- play OTT players, broadcasters, telcos, content companies, and advertisers – are facing more questions than answers.

Panelists

  • Peter Naylor (SVP, Advertising Sales, Hulu)
  • Christopher Vollmer (Partner, Strategy, PwC member firm)
  • Kenny Gersh (EVP, Business, MLB Advanced Media)
  • Frank Besterio (VP, Business Development & Partnerships for Video, AOL)

 

Wednesday, September 30th

2:00PM-2:45PM

OMMA Programmatic Video

Deja Vu All Over Again: The Search for Quality Inventory

Seems like we’ve been here before. Media buyers want access to more quality inventory in the exchanges. Publishers remain reticent to see their coveted and higher priced  video space get commoditized by automation and bidding dynamics. So what is the state of the video inventory in programmatic channels? Has the private exchange economy kicked in here at scale yet to assuage both sides? Have media buyers adjusted their definition of “premium” video inventory? What is the “quality” in programmatic video, and how are media buyers finding what they need?

Moderator: Brian Nadres (Director of Programmatic Media, The Media Kitchen)

Panelists

  • Doug Fleming (Director, Programmatic Sales, Hulu)
  • Harvin Furman (SVP, Group Director, Digital Acceleration, Starcom USA)
  • Adam Kasper (Chief Media Officer, Havas Media)
  • Bryan Noguchi (SVP, Media Director, R2C Group)
  • Carrie Seifer (President, Digital Data & Technology, Mediavest)

 

Thursday, October 1st

11:20AM-11:45AM

Cablefax TV Innovation Summit

OTT, TVE and Skinny Bundles: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

It just doesn’t seem fair. The industry spent decades building the current TV ecosystem in all its big bundle glory, and now OTT players and “skinny bundlers” are ruining the party for everyone. Or are they? For the first time, smart people who used to dismiss a-la-carte as economically unsustainable are starting to wonder whether the same economic rules apply anymore.

We’ll explore how the industry’s TV Everywhere effort to authenticate content can co-exist in a world in which consumers can customize their programming mix like never before. Are some cable networks doomed in this environment? Are others poised for greatness? And when consumers add up all the costs of those standalone and skinny content options, will they end up happy or nostalgic for those days of old? We’ll hit this one from every angle as we take a new look at this uncertain environment.

PART ONE – OTT and TVE

We’ll examine how OTT and TVE fit together in the new TV ecosystem. How do consumers view the differences between a-la-carte OTT options vs. the authenticated experience offered by TVE? And how can the industry do a better job ensuring that consumers understand how to manage all of their content choices—all while supporting the ultimate goal of monetizing content creation and distribution.

Speakers

  • Jim Galley, (Distribution & Strategic Partnerships, Hulu)
  • Dwayne Benefield (VP, Playstation VUE, Sony)
  • Tom Mohler (CEO, Olympusat Holdings)
  • Robyn Polashuk (Managing Partner, Covington & Burling)
  • Evan Silverman (SVP, Digital Media, A&E Networks)

 

Thursday, October 1st

2:20PM-2:55PM

Cablefax TV Innovation Summit

Programmatic Static: Advertising, Marketing and Monetization in a Digital World

You’ve told people that you understand programmatic advertising. Heck, you’ve even sounded pretty convincing. But now it’s time to pull back the veil and truly understand how automated buying changes the advertising and marketing landscape. How does programmatic fuse digital and linear targeting? Who are the big technology and strategic players? And how can content owners and distributors rise above a “set it and forget it” mentality that risks leaving money and viewers on the table?

We’ll explore new ways that programmers and operators are using programmatic to hone overall marketing strategies, super-serve the right ads in the right way and ultimately beat the competition. We’ll also dissect how programmatic buying intersects with other tried-and-true advertising and marketing methodologies. Programmatic is a huge part of the future for the entire industry, and this session will wash away the confusion and prepare you for success.

Moderator: Barry Frey (President & CEO, Digital Place Based Advertising Association)

Panelists

  • Doug Fleming (Director, Programmatic Sales, Hulu)
  • Seth Goren (SVP, Media Strategy and Analytics, Discovery Communications)
  • James Shears (GM, Addressable and Programmatic, DISH Media Sales)
  • Jamie Weissenborn (Chief Revenue Officer, Machinima)

 

Thursday, October 1st

1:00PM-3:00PM

ANA Connected TV/OTT Members Only Conference presented by BrightLine

ComScore & Hulu: Reaching Millennials Across Platforms

Audiences of video streaming services have been rapidly shifting away from desktops and moving to connected or OTT devices such as gaming consoles, Roku and smart TVs to watch non-linear video. What has been great for consumers, however, has proven to be a challenge for the media industry in terms of measuring these audiences across multiple platforms. To solve this problem, Hulu partnered with comScore to measure their audience to discover where the highly coveted audience of the future, Millennials, is consuming content. In this session, Hulu and comScore will uncover rich insights on how Millennials are utilizing multiple platforms and how marketers can capitalize on this opportunity.

Panelists

  • Justin Fromm (Director, Advertising Research, Hulu)
  • David Shiffman (SVP, Marketing Solutions, comScore)
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Andy-Goldberg
ANDY GOLDBERG
SVP, Global Brand Planning & Content
American Express
The first ad I remember:
Fruit Loops with Toucan Sam
My favorite TV show of all time:
Impossible to name just one but Friday Night Lights is on the all-time list.
I’m here to:
Connect with others on the potential of streaming … how things are changing so rapidly and how brands can be at the forefront of amazing content.

Q: What does native frame rate mean?

A: Native frame rate refers to the frame rate the source footage was shot. Whenever possible, we require all videos to be delivered in their native frame rate. This means that no frame rate conversion should be performed, which includes adding 3:2 pulldown for broadcast.

Stress mark should be marked with [capitals] to indicate the primary stressed syllable, as in: news・pa・per [NOOZ-pey-per] in・for・ma・tion [in-fer-MEY-shuhn]

On living room, mobile, and tablet devices, the color gradient overlay is dynamic and will change based on the cover story art. It is not something we can control on our end.

If the tagline/date messaging doesn’t fit within the 11 syllables max, it can be included as text.

On living room, mobile, and tablet devices, the color gradient overlay is dynamic and will change based on the cover story art. It is not something we can control on our end.

  • No symbols such as registered marks, copyrights, etc.
  • If symbols are required, they will be presented in standard text such as" Brand (TM)".

Q: When is letterboxing allowed and not allowed?

A: When the native aspect ratio is 1.78:1 or 1.33:1 throughout the entire program, there should not be any letterboxing (black bars on top and bottom), nor should there be any pillarboxing (black bars on either side). We should see an active picture take up the full frame. If the aspect ratio is wider than 1.78:1, such as 2.35:1, matting on the top and bottom is permissible. Additionally, if there is a creative choice to add matting or if there is a mix of native aspect ratios, this is usually waived, but please reach out to your Hulu representative to confirm.

Q: Should the bitrate be constant if delivering ProRes codec?
A: No, since ProRes codec is built to be variable, this is waived.

Q: Can you accept bitrate higher than 30 Mbps?
A: Yes, we can accept bitrate beyond the recommended range for H.264 and ProRes. In the case of ProRes, bitrate will often exceed 30 Mbps due to its variable setting.

Q: Why do you ask for progressive?

A: The Hulu player, unlike traditional broadcast, does not play back interlace scan, so we require that all videos be delivered with their scan type set to progressive. If your video is natively interlaced, you must de-interlace it to progressive and you must employ a de-interlace filter that does not result in blending or ghosting artifacts. We recommend an auto-adaptive de-interlace if available.

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Alex-Lopez
ALEX LOPEZ
Head of Global Brand Communications & Narrative
Nike
The first ad I remember:
Mike & Spike (Air Jordan)
My favorite TV show of all time:
Sports, The Simpsons, The Sopranos, or anything else that starts with “S”.
I’m here to:
Get inspired, build some knowledge, and have some laughs along the way.

Q: Why do you prefer PCM codec?

A: PCM codec is lossless audio quality, so whenever possible, please deliver PCM audio.

Play Video

Q&A With
Gadi Amit

Founder, New Deal Design

Gadi: The development of serendipity in recommendations is very important. An analogy I use is that of a restaurant. If you go to a good restaurant, you don’t always want to see what you’re looking for. You’re looking for surprises. It’s not the expected, it’s the unexpected. You trust in the restaurant’s atmosphere. You don’t know exactly what you’re getting, but you trust their creativity and that you’ll enjoy whatever they serve you.

Do you think it is possible for a streaming service to become that “restaurant” - a trusted source of serendipitous recommendations?

Gadi: I absolutely do. But it is difficult. It’s a long game. It requires them to build trustworthiness with audiences through genuine content recommendations over the years.

Q&A With
Gandi Amit

Found New Deal Design

Gandi: The development of serendipity in recommendations is very important. An analogy I use is that of a restaurant. If you go to a good restaurant, you don’t always want to see what you’re looking for. You’re looking for surprises. It’s not the expected, it’s the unexpected. You trust in the restaurant’s atmosphere. You don’t know exactly what you’re getting, but you trust their creativity and that you’ll enjoy whatever they serve you.

Do you think it is possible for a streaming service to become that “restaurant” -- a trusted source of serendipitous recommendations?

Gandi: I absolutely do. But it is difficult. It’s a long game. It requires them to build trustworthiness with audiences through genuine content recommendations over the years.

Q&A With
Jonathan Miranda

Emerging Strategy Principal, Salesforce

Another expectation among younger generations seems to be personalization. How are you seeing this play out in media?

Jonathan: If you go into the world of advertising and marketing, customized, personalized advertising is more important than ever before. There’s a realization that eight years of funny commercials that we’ve showed everybody probably for the fourth time, doesn’t work anymore. So there’s a lot of companies moving towards specialized advertising.

How does this type of personalization translate to personalizing content beyond advertising? Who’s going to predict what people will want to watch, and do it first?

Jonathan: It’s not about being the first to predict what people want to watch. It's different. It’s about getting viewers to browse. You want to show them the value of all of the money Hulu has spent and the great range of TV and film for them to choose from.

Q&A With
Julie DeTragila

Head of Research & Insights, Hulu

Julie: There are vast differences between the way under 35-year-olds watch TV and over 35-year-olds watch TV. I grew up in a world where there were maybe 10 channels, and my viewing changed as technology and options changed. Younger viewers started from a really different place. Everything has always been on-demand. Anything they ever wanted to see was available to them, and they therefore have different expectations for TV.

How so?

Julie: One of the things we found with Gen Z is that they really want to be immersed in something for a long time. They want to have content that they can live with for a while; it’s like this long, seamless storytelling. They’ll knock off a couple episodes a night and it will last a couple of months. And then they’ll re-watch it a million times over.

What other shifts have you seen happen-with Gen Z but also more broadly-with the rise of streaming?

Julie: For years, television had to deliver a specific rating. Shows had to appeal broadly or else they wouldn’t survive. And those days are long gone because, with streaming services, shows can reach hundreds of thousands of people or tens of thousands of people and still be considered successful. There’s more experimentation with the types of content; we’re not locked into an hour, a half hour, a comedy, etc. The industry can create really niche shows to appeal to niche audiences, but also simultaneously create big, broad experiences that are shared by millions.

Q&A With
Larissa May

Founder, #HalftheStory

Your work focuses a lot on Gen Zs who, for better or worse, are dubbed “digital natives.” How do you think a generation of digitally native audiences view digital content differently than older generations?

Larissa: I think for young people digital content is a way they’re able to explore their own identities through the story... They want to see themselves and their stories in the content that they’re engaging with.

Tell us a little more about this digital content as Gen Z’s form of self-reflection.

Larissa: Digital content is sort of like a currency. I find that young people want to watch things that their friends are watching so that they can have conversations about it. For example, with Euphoria, young people were just kind of in love with the characters. It was very timely and a bit provocative, and then there was a way that they could see themselves in these stories and connect with their friends about the topics and ideas in the show.

And then also they could almost embody these characters in their own life. I really do think that the TV shows that young people are buying into are actually influencing their culture and their trends and even their language that they’re using.

Q&A With
Richard Frankel​

Global Creative Director, Spotify

What does the future of personalization look like?

Richard: I think it’s all down to trust. We're going to see more opportunity on platforms like Hulu and Spotify where the user trusts us.

That’s really interesting. Another area we wanted to explore is podcasts, and their relationship to video. For example, the show Homecoming is an adaptation of a podcast; the podcast Office Ladies is a spin-off from a TV show. Why do you think the two formats work so well together?

Richard: Anything at all that drives conversation in pop culture, and TV does a lot of that, is worthy of consideration in a podcast environment. Any of these conversations can become multiple audio streams that evolve with experts, interviews, and all kinds of narrative threads that can flesh out characters, or narrative development, or whatever's happening in those shows.

The use of Graphik is acceptable in cases where the Client cannot supply their own typeface.