Advertisers who buy on major television networks are following audiences to OTT platforms. 

And as one of the earliest OTT platforms, Hulu attracts many of these brands. However, the overlap between NBC advertisers and Hulu advertisers is low. 

During a recent webinar on Hulu and Facebook advertising, MediaRadar CEO Todd Krizelman explained patterns between Hulu and NBC advertisers. 

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Why are we comparing Hulu and NBC advertisers?

NBC has been quietly producing some of the most popular content available for years, and its library of older shows is still primetime TV for millions of viewers. But much of that content won’t be available on Hulu or Netflix. 

Seven of the nine most popular shows on Netflix are NBC owned, and were gradually transferred exclusively to the Peacock since it was launched. The licensing deals are complicated, but it’s certain that Peacock has rights to some of the most beloved content out there. 

As more consumers turn to streaming premium content, NBC plans to charge primetime TV rates for streaming ads. After all, watching This is Us is primetime TV no matter at what time consumers are viewing it. 

“We are committed to building this space for marketers and keeping consumer engagement around their ads,” said Laura Molen, president of advertising sales and partnerships to Variety. “Our pricing is going to reflect this.”

Peacock has made the advertising experience more enjoyable for viewers—limiting ad time to 5 minutes per hour and a variety of different commercial formats. 

Peacock viewing is growing, and the licensing deals between streaming platforms is complicated. Peacock may be positioned to attract a significant share of advertising dollars in the OTT space, even though Hulu has a head start.

Laying this aside for now, many consumers still watch much of NBC’s content on TV. 

How many NBC TV advertisers are also targeting consumers on OTT, specifically Hulu?

MediaRadar Insights

In January and February of 2021, 24% of the advertisers on NBC also placed on Hulu. 

This looks at the NBC broadcast network only, and does not include other NBC properties (i.e. Bravo, E!, Oxygen).

Entertainment advertising has the highest overlap for an individual category. 17.4% of NBC entertainment brands also place on Hulu. Examples include: Disney+, HBO Max, The Little Things, Losing Alice, etc.

Pharma has the second highest overlap. 17% of NBC pharma brands also place on Hulu at the same time.

There is low ad overlap within licensed programming between Hulu and NBC. This is true on current seasons and especially pronounced on library inventory (older seasons).

From January to February:

• 11% of advertisers overlap between Hulu and NBC during Saturday Night Live
• 3% of advertisers overlap between Hulu and NBC during Superstore
• 10% of advertisers overlap between Hulu and NBC during Mr. Mayor
• 10% of advertisers overlap between Hulu and NBC Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist

Advertisers who did overlap during these shows include*: 

• T-Mobile
• TurboTax
• Kia
• Microsoft Teams.

*Though these advertisers did overlap between NBC and Hulu, they didn’t all occur on the same show.

These are just some of the highlights from MediaRadar’s look at NBC and Hulu advertisers. For more insights, listen to the full webinar here. 

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