Success Stories

How Hulu Ad Manager Helped I-Ally Grow its Instagram Following by Nearly 200X

Lucinda Koza, the Founder and CEO of I-Ally, wanted to reach an audience that she knew spent a lot of time watching shows via streaming services. I-Ally is an app that provides millennial caregivers the community support and access to resources they need to give their loved ones the best possible care. As a millennial caregiver herself, Lucinda knew what it was like to stay at home for long stretches of time with nothing but a good show to keep you company.

After running multiple social media campaigns, Lucinda stumbled upon what seemed like the perfect marketing opportunity: Hulu Ad Manager, a self-serve advertising platform that gives businesses of all sizes access to Hulu’s 110 million ad-supported viewers.

We sat down with Lucinda to learn about her first streaming TV advertising experience. 

Performance exceeded my expectations! I-Ally’s Instagram account went from 500 followers to over 100,000 followers. I credit it to Hulu Ad Manager because I wasn’t running other grand advertising campaigns at the time.

Can you tell us a bit about I-Ally and what led you to start this company?

My dad had a massive stroke in 2018. I was super young. I was also the only person to show up at the hospital and the only person to take responsibility for his care. I had no idea what I was doing, and I experienced such a lack of support. I thought, “Where’s the person who’s going to ask if I’m okay? The person who’s going to help me figure this out?” 

I knew there had to be others like me who found themselves in this position. After doing some research, I found there were literally millions of millennials who were tasked with taking care of an ill or aging family member, yet there was nothing to connect us. I built I-Ally out of my own need to connect with other millennial caregivers.

Why did you decide to incorporate streaming TV, and Hulu specifically, into your marketing mix? 

I’ve done social media marketing for years — videos on Instagram, Facebook, I’ve tried it all. When I came across Hulu Ad Manager, I thought, “I want to get in on this. This is incredible.” Everyone watches streaming TV, especially my target audience: millennials who are at home taking care of a family member. They can’t leave the house. I guarantee every millennial caregiver has a streaming service turned on to help them get through the day. I wanted to reach these people and let them know that I-Ally is there for them.

How has your experience with Hulu Ad Manager been? 

Hulu Ad Manager was incredibly easy to use, especially if you have experience doing Facebook advertising. It’s easier, actually. I knew exactly who I wanted to reach; I knew what types of shows they watched so it was great to be able to target by genre. 

Because this was my first time working with streaming TV, I ran into an issue without even being aware of it: I had wanted to run a campaign for a month, but my budget ran out too quickly. Before I even noticed, someone from Hulu Ad Manager reached out and helped fix things right away. It was incredible.

Let’s talk about results. How did your campaign perform? 

Performance exceeded my expectations! I-Ally’s Instagram account went from 500 followers to over 100,000 followers. I credit it to Hulu Ad Manager because I wasn’t running other grand advertising campaigns at the time. For our Instagram following to explode like that…  Business owners know that’s HUGE.

How did this campaign compare to campaigns you’ve run on other platforms?

I feel like social media [advertising], especially Facebook, is over-saturated. Since streaming is just where we are as a society, it makes more of an impact. It’s also new for advertisers like me. It’s fun. 

I feel like social media [advertising], especially Facebook, is over-saturated.

What was your key takeaway from this experience with Hulu Ad Manager?

I learned a lot about my audience and about the people who were willing to take action after seeing something. The way reporting was broken down allowed me to see that some genres I had chosen to target weren’t as successful as I thought they might be. That’s incredibly useful information because now I know where to use my resources moving forward. That’s almost as valuable as where I succeeded.

I learned a lot about my audience and about the people who were willing to take action after seeing something.

Finally, can you tell us what it means to you to be a female founder and to be involved in organizations that help other female leaders gain access to opportunities?

Being a woman is so central to who I am and what I fight for. I don’t want to be confined by any perceived limitations on my technical knowledge, my boldness, my confidence. I’m willing to jump out in the middle of traffic and yell at the top of my lungs what I believe in.

I think [women] are the ones who are going to help each other. We have to be each other’s superheroes and angel investors and mentors. When one of us gets a seat at the table, we have to do everything we can to reach out a hand and bring another woman to the table.

Experience Hulu Ad Manager for Yourself

Hulu Ad Manager is changing the game for small- to medium-sized businesses like I-Ally. Learn more about our self-serve ad platform and discover how you can showcase your ads on a platform with some of TV’s biggest shows. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.