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Pause Ad

Play Video

Hulu’s Pause Ad offers advertisers a unique opportunity to connect with viewers through situational relevance — the act of pressing pause.​

The Pause Ad allows marketers to deliver relevant messaging to consumers at the right time and place — during a natural, user-determined break in the storytelling. It also allows advertisers to create and own a positive, entertaining viewer experience.

Play Video

Turnaround Time

12 business days from the receipt of the final assets and copy.

Available On:

Deliverables

Static Assets

Brand Logo / Title Treatment

  • PREFERRED: Vector Adobe EPS or Illustrator (AI) files
  • ACCEPTED: High-res layered Photoshop (PSD) or transparent PNG

Supporting Campaign Imagery / Rating Bug

  • PREFERRED: Vector Adobe EPS or Illustrator (AI) files
  • ACCEPTED: High-res layered Photoshop (PSD), JPG, or transparent PNG
  • If promoting a film, series, or video game, an MPA / TV / ESRB rating bug is REQUIRED. 

Fonts (if applicable)

  • OpenType Font (OTF)

Design Deliverables (if Client is Designing)

  • File Format: Transparent PNG
  • Dimensions: 1085 x 770 
  • Please consult the Account Manager for Photoshop (PSD) build file template.
  • If promoting a film, series, or video game, an MPA / TV / ESRB rating bug is REQUIRED. 

Creative Requirements

No Solid Backgrounds

  • Images should have transparent backgrounds.

Design Visual Focal Points

  • Avoid cramming multiple images into the ad creative. Use a single image to draw people’s attention.

Avoid Using Cropped Images​

  • Images should not have cropped edges or look incomplete.

No Hulu UI Elements​

  • Do not use Hulu UI elements or layer controls in the design, which may cause confusion in the viewer. Users might see a play icon and think that it’s clickable.

Keep Text Color Light

  • The text should be set in white (or another light color) to ensure readability. Dark-colored text will not show up well over the gradient.

No CTAs or Graphic Buttons

  • Users will only be able to access the advertiser’s site through the web disclaimer.
  • Exceptions made for Pause Ads w/ QR Codes. See below.

Text Legibility

  • A single deliverable asset gets trafficked across all devices. Therefore, the font size has to remain legible even at the smallest supported breakpoint size (1024px).

Observe Template Boundaries

  • Do not place components outside of the template boundaries. An image used in horizontal layout should not bleed into the vertical template area and vice versa.

Ad Copy Best Practices

Focus on Relevancy

  • Users will care more about the ad if they understand why they are seeing it. Connecting the ad copy/imagery to the pause events may increase interest.

Use Contextual Brand Messaging​

  • Evaluate how your brand message could function in the pause state.
  • Are you offering something that a viewer might actually do while Hulu is paused?
  • Is there an aspect of “taking a break” or “pausing” in your brand message?
  • Does your brand have a message for the viewer’s location (living room or other room in the house)?

Keep the Text Concise

  • Viewers don’t want to see a big chunk of text on their screen. Make sure the messaging is clear and to the point.

Creative Support

  • Hulu will provide copy feedback, if requested. 
  • If you’d like Hulu to provide copy options, please send Brand / Campaign materials (ie Campaign Style Guide, Campaign Messaging.)

Copy

Creative Best Practices

  • Evaluate how brand messaging could function in the pause state.
  • Focus on relevancy.
  • Keep the text concise. Aim to cap at 30 characters or fewer.
  • Hulu will provide copy options if requested.

Text Readability

  • The text should be set in white to ensure readability.
  • Avoid having the messaging run over three lines of text.
  • The style should follow the client’s branding.

Text Legibility

  • Keep in mind that a single asset gets trafficked across all devices. Therefore, the font size has to remain legible even at the smallest supported breakpoint size (1024px).

Heading

  • Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
  • Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Gradient Color (optional)

Format

  • HEX or RBG Code

Purpose

  • NOTE: Clients can provide HEX values of their brand colors for consideration if they’d like. However, if the brand colors cause the gradient to clash with the creative, they will not be used. The gradient is meant to work as a backdrop to the ad creative and does not need to represent the brand.

Acceptable

  • Black is acceptable but white (or any other light color) is not.

Heading

  • Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
  • Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Ad Units w/ QR Code

Who Creates?

  • Hulu to create the QR Code to be used. Clients will need to provide the URL for the landing page where the ad is driving the viewer. The destination link can be anything from a website, an app, or the app store (to download an advertised app).

CTAs

  • Calls to action to scan within the creative should be clear and compelling. They should be designed to get the viewer to take action, for example, by offering a deal, promotion, or entertaining destination experience. The CTA should be quick-to-read and be cohesive with the destination URL.

CTA Copy Best Practices

  • Written and verbal calls to action are significant when a QR Code is onscreen. To encourage viewer engagement, we highly recommend advertisers use a strong CTA. 

CTA Examples

  • If possible, include what the viewer will get for scanning. 
    • Scan to Win
    • Scan for Offer
    • Scan for Discount
    • Scan for Limited Deal
  • CTAs that offer a sense of urgency or a chance to win perform the strongest.
    • “Scan for a chance to win”
    • “Scan now for latest deals”
    • “Scan today for early access”

Third-Party Tracking Tags & File Hosting

Tracking Tags

  • Clients can provide third party 1×1s and click trackers.

File Hosting

  • Files are hosted by Hulu.

Heading

  • Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
  • Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Heading

  • Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
  • Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Privacy Policy

Terms of Use

Children’s Online Privacy Policy

Your US State Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Interest-Based Ads

© 2023 Disney Advertising All rights reserved

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The use of Graphik is acceptable in cases where the Client cannot supply their own typeface.
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.
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]
  • No symbols such as registered marks, copyrights, etc.
  • If symbols are required, they will be presented in standard text such as” Brand (TM)”

Q: Why do you prefer PCM codec?

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

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.

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: 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). 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.