Kelly Campbell on Taking Over Hulu During a Pandemic

Key Insights:As lockdowns began, Campbell mobilized her team to capitalize on the spike in streaming use by homebound consumers.'Visible leadership' has become a priority for Campbell during the pandemic. It wasn’t even three weeks into Kelly Campbell’s tenure as president of Hulu when the Covid-19 pandemic forced everyone at the streamer’s offices to work from home indefinitely. Hulu's former chief marketing officer—who was promoted in late February following the surprise departure of Hulu CEO Randy Freer as part of a January reorganization that saw the streaming service fully integrated into parent company Disney—had to figure out how to steer Hulu confidently as the nation was thrown into disarray, affecting the streamer in more ways than she expected. “I don’t know that there’s anything that could have prepared me to step into the role,” Campbell says via video call from her home office setup in Manhattan Beach, Calif. “It has been invigorating, challenging and humbling. It has been a profound learning experience for me.” For Campbell, her first several months on the job have been defined not just by the learning curve but by the juxtaposition of a tough year that has helped accelerate Hulu’s growth (it reported fiscal year 2019 revenue of $1.938 billion) and made it one of Disney's lone bright spots during the pandemic. Against the backdrop of Covid-19 and amid historic nationwide protests against police brutality and social injustice, streaming viewership skyrocketed—and Hulu is so far having what may be its best year ever. With high-profile originals like Little Fires Everywhere, The Handmaid's Tale, Ramy and Pen15, a vast influx of programming from FX like miniseries Mrs. America (which was nominated for 10 Emmys) and a continued push into the live television space, Hulu is growing fast, surpassing 35.5 million subscribers as of June and, according to Comscore, reaching a total of 89 million ad-supported viewers as of August. Engagement among Hulu's ad-supported viewers was up 56% in the second quarter. “We’re all experiencing this tremendous uncertainty and unrest, and at the same time, for Hulu, it’s been a banner year,” Campbell says. “We’ve had to navigate through a lot, but the team and the business has really been firing on all cylinders. More people are signing up, more people are watching and those people are watching more content overall.” Before the pandemic hit, Hulu was already growing fast, boosted by IP, talent, a larger programming slate and a lucrative bundle offering with Disney+ and ESPN+ as part of Disney's larger streaming ambitions. As lockdowns began, Campbell realized there was an opportunity to expand even faster and mobilized the team to capitalize on what was quickly becoming apparent: U.S. consumers confined to their homes amid lockdowns were flocking to in-home entertainment. It wasn’t just evident from Hulu’s internal data—Campbell was even noticing it in her neighborhood. “I’d put on my mask and my hat and sunglasses and go for a walk at 6 a.m., as early as possible, and everyone was like, 'Hey, Kelly, what should I watch on Hulu? I need a new show!’” she says, laughing. “Everywhere I went, I became this walking, talking, what-to-watch list.” About a week after shutdowns began, Hulu released its high-profile limited series Little Fires Everywhere (starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington) a day earlier than planned, looking to surprise quarantined viewers and give them an earlier chance to get hooked. A few days later, the streamer made ABC News’ live 24/7 news programming available to all Hulu subscribers as demand for news programming climbed. From home, the Hulu team readied a navigation-friendly user interface update that rolled out in May, intended to encourage further content discovery while offering an experience similar to the UIs of Disney+ and ESPN+, with which Hulu is bundled. The same month, Hulu debuted a Watch Party feature letting ad-free viewers watch programing at the same time with friends across multiple accounts—an offering that’s now coming to ad-supported viewers as well. The shift toward streaming is not just by consumers, but by brands and advertisers. It’s all been accelerated.Kelly Campbell And Campbell kept the new offerings coming for consumers. A month later, the service raised the curtain on a new ad format, GatewayGo, which lets viewers on Hulu’s ad-supported tier request special offers from brands. By summer’s end, the company’s marketing team debuted another iteration of its "Hulu Sellouts" campaign, leveraging fall sports’ return to sell Hulu’s live TV offering, which as of this June has 3.4 million subscribers. If it sounds like a breakneck speed, it is—and Campbell, who says she thrives in fast-paced settings, notes it was crucial to move nimbly to meet the moment. “The shift toward streaming is not just by consumers, but by brands and advertisers,” Campbell says. “It’s all been accelerated.” While Campbell is an entertainment junkie, she's also laser-focused on understanding how audiences are watching on Hulu, so the company can meet consumers' various viewership needs as they continue to evolve. It's just about knowing where consumers are today, she says, and being ready to proactively "build the technology" that satisfies them based on where they are going next. "I get to partner with the best of the best when it comes to content creation and development, and what I can bring to them are the insights around our audience: our existing audience, our target audience, what trends we are seeing," Campbell says. "We're looking across every single piece of content that we have on Hulu, so we're able to identify trends and insights that can help shape the kind of content they're developing and making." Just as the streaming space is speeding up, Campbell says the events of the year have forced her to slow down. She admits she doesn't always have all of the answers, especially in an environment like this, and is working on being comfortable with taking a beat. “With Covid and with the social injustices and racial injustices we are seeing, I need to listen so I can learn and process,” she says. “I have a new understanding of the importance of visible leadership. Visible leadership is sometimes standing in front of a roomful of people and answering questions and telling them about vision and where you see the company going. But it’s also standing in a roomful of people and asking questions, and listening, and helping people know their voices are being heard and that their voices matter.” It’s a good time for Campbell to be in streaming, but as upstart offerings from television giants like NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia came onto the scene this year, the space is getting more cutthroat. Campbell, though, is confident that the migration to streaming will only continue, and she’s working on making sure Hulu can grow even faster right along with it. “I don’t want to lose sight of what the competition is doing,” she says, “but our focus is on the future.” (Check out the full Adweek 50 list for 2020 here.)

The Adweek 50

How New Hulu Chief Kelly Campbell Is Positioning the Streamer for Long-Term Success

And what it's like being a 'walking, talking, what-to-watch list'

Kelsey Sutton

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Kelsey Sutton