The online video behemoth – Netflix – has lost one of its very able employees to its rival Hulu. Jenny Wall will now be heading marketing for Hulu; she had earlier helped market high profile original shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black during her year and a half stint at Netflix. Prior to Netflix, she worked at BLT Communications and spent seven years at HBO.
Wall’s hire comes as Hulu’s attempt to majorly push for getting original programming, acquiring new shows in the hopes of grabbing TV-like revenues. Hulu announced several series renewals during its NewFront presentation to advertisers a few weeks ago.
The online video platform is yet to make as much of a splash with its original shows as Netflix. The online video giant has very cleverly found diverse marketing strategies for its shows, like taking the famed banana stand from Arrested Development on an international tour ahead of the sitcom’s season four premiere on Netflix.
Online video providers are slowly responding to a common complaint among marketers and media buyers, which is that the outlets don’t invest enough on promoting their shows and their sites to the general consumer audience.
Last year seven big ad agencies including GroupM and Digitas sent a letter to all the digital companies that hosted the NewFronts. While the letter praised their efforts to spend more on programming it also said that in order for more ad dollars to flow to online video the digital companies needed to invest more in marketing.