Hulu has signed on as an official sponsor of the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs and Final, expanding the streaming service’s live sports content as it works to compete with Amazon.com, Facebook and other over-the-top services.
Hulu, which is jointly owned by The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, Comcast and Time Warner, announced that it will become an official NHL partner for the entirety of the 2018 playoff season, streaming games across the NBC, NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), CNBC, USA Network and Golf Channels.
Hulu is offering this through its $39.99 monthly live TV service, which Hulu launched in May 2017 with live and on-demand programming from more than 50 sports, news, entertainment and kids’ channels. Some of its previous sports content has included live games from major pro and college leagues, including NCAA football and basketball (most recently with the March Madness tournament), as well as Premiere League soccer, and national games broadcast by ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN and CBS Sports.
In a statement, Hulu said it is partnering with the NHL to “amplify its live sports offering and remind sports fans” that they can watch key games on its service.
“Since we launched our live TV package, we’ve seen live sports drive a very large part of our growth, so we are especially excited to team up with the NHL to celebrate the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs – an event we know our viewers will be watching,” said Patrizio Spagnoletto, Hulu’s head of media and subscriber growth.
The partnership between Hulu and the NHL also includes a marketing campaign across the NHL’s digital and social channels, as well as in-arena branding. As part of these plans, Hulu and the National Hockey League Players’ Association will jointly create video vignettes that will feature NHL stars.
“Our main goal is to bring these memorable moments to the broadest possible audience, and partnering with a powerful brand like Hulu will allow us to drive deeper engagement with our fans,” NHL Chief Revenue Officer Keith Wachtel said in a statement.
SportTechie Takeaway:
Since launching its live TV service a year ago, Hulu has been adding sports content to attract sports fans who are continually looking for ways to consume sports without having to pay for expensive cable TV packages. The company has been positioning itself as a host of some of the biggest events in sports, from the March Madness tourney to the 2018 Winter Olympics and now the NHL playoffs and Stanley Cup Final. During the Olympics and NCAA tournament, Hulu enabled fans to personalize their experiences by allowing them to pick their favorite winter sports and college basketball teams, which would then trigger a personalized user interface guiding their experience on the Hulu platform.
Hulu has recognized that there is a gap in the market for sports fans looking to consume live sports over the internet. While a number of broadcast companies, such as ESPN (with its $4.99 ESPN+) and CBS (through its free streaming channel CBS Sports HQ), are launching their own over-the-top apps to attract fans to their content, Hulu offers fans a way to watch a number of those sports channels from a single location without having to acquire multiple OTT subscriptions.
This partnership with the NHL also comes as other internet companies, notably Amazon.com, Twitter and Facebook, have been scooping up sports rights and dipping their toes in the live sports streaming world. Amazon last NFL season won the rights to a handful of Thursday Night Football games, while Facebook and Twitter both now stream games from Major League Baseball.