In 2025, Hulu set out to solve a modern streaming challenge: in a world of endless choice, how do audiences decide what to watch?
To deepen discovery and sustain momentum across its diverse programming, Hulu reimagined influencer marketing not as simple amplification, but as foundational infrastructure for modern content discovery, partnering with QYOU to help architect and scale this always-on approach.
Rather than asking creators to promote shows, Hulu aimed to turn them into guides for discovery, meeting audiences inside their feeds and shaping viewing decisions through trusted voices.
The objectives were clear:
Drive awareness and tune-in across 43 Hulu titles
Sustain cultural momentum beyond premiere windows
Integrate creators into both brand and show-level storytelling
Move beyond engagement to influence subscriber consideration
Build a repeatable, scalable creator engine that could operate year-round
The goal was to make creators the channel and social platforms the new digital TV guide.
To bring this vision to life, Hulu and QYOU built an always-on creator ecosystem structured across three integrated pillars: Paid Partnerships, Earned Creator Programs, and Subscriber Acquisition.
Rather than launching isolated influencer posts around premiere dates, the team created a year-round framework that allowed creators to function as cultural curators across Hulu’s slate.
Paid Partnerships focused on platform-native storytelling. Instead of repurposing trailers, creators interpreted shows through their own formats such as reaction videos, comedic sketches, scene reenactments, commentary breakdowns, and emotional recaps. Each execution was designed specifically for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and Meta, ensuring content felt natural to the platform and authentic to the creator.
Earned Creator Programs deepened authenticity. Creators were invited to set visits, red carpets, screenings, and immersive experiences. These access-driven moments generated organic amplification and fan participation, often extending far beyond contracted deliverables.
Subscriber Acquisition elevated creators from awareness drivers to decision influencers. Creator content was integrated into paid social strategies across platforms, optimized to move audiences from curiosity to subscription using tailored targeting and creative testing.
Across the year, Hulu x QYOU executed 16 creator-led campaigns with 122 creators, promoting 43 shows across genres including drama, comedy, unscripted, and originals.
But the breakthrough came through four ambitious digital stunts.
Each stunt unfolded as a multi-part narrative series across multiple creator feeds that invited audiences to follow a story in real time. Instead of a single sponsored post, viewers experienced episodic storytelling that built intrigue, speculation, and community conversation. Every stunt culminated in a finale moment where participating creators came together to close the narrative arc.
The Chad Powers campaign pushed the format further by bringing celebrity cast members directly into the creator ecosystem. Rather than simply appearing in polished promotional clips, talent stepped into creator-native content that closed the gap between scripted entertainment and social storytelling.
One of the biggest challenges was balancing scale with authenticity. With dozens of titles and tight timelines, the work needed to feel culturally fluent without becoming repetitive or overly branded. By building a structured yet flexible framework, Hulu x QYOU created a system that allowed for both operational consistency and creative experimentation.
The result was an always-on discovery engine embedded in culture.
The Hulu x QYOU creator ecosystem delivered measurable impact at scale:
• 16 campaigns
• 43 titles promoted
• 122 creators
• 351 posts
• Nearly 500 million views
• 8.4 million+ engagements
• 4 multi-part digital stunts
The result was discovery driven by trust, not interruption, reaching over half a billion views and proving that creators have become the new digital TV guide for modern entertainment.
