Representing broadcast, cable, SVOD and digital, four powerhouse TV marketers talked about everything from using one platform to promote another, to when it’s best to just let the talent market themselves at PromaxBDA: The Conference 2015 at the J.W. Marriott LA Live on Tuesday.

With all of the fragmentation these days, platforms more than ever need creative ways to get the word out.

“There’s no substitute for great marketing. Digital folks have said ‘good content will find an audience,’ but no, you actually have to take steps to help them find it,” said Erin McPherson, chief operating officer for Disney-owned Maker Studios.

Jenny Wall, Hulu’s head of marketing and new PromaxBDA board member, said she’s found that marketing back to other platforms – such as Empire on Fox or Community on Yahoo – ultimately means more viewers for her own platform.

“When Community moved to Yahoo, we promoted it because it actually drove traffic to the first five seasons on Hulu,” Wall said. Similarly, although Fox’s Empire premiered big and only grew from there, promoting the show’s linear airings on Fox turned out to be good for both Fox and Hulu.

Although Empire is currently off the air, that the show is available on Hulu is a marketing opportunity for both platforms.

“This summer has been an awesome opportunity and we’re just really trying to take advantage of all of that momentum,” said Laurel Bernard, Fox’s executive VP of marketing. “Coming from broadcast land, gone are the days when if people said ‘I missed the first two episodes of that show so I’m going to wait for it to come out on DVD or not get into it at all.’ We are really trying to take advantage of the ability to catch up with our marketing.”

“I don’t care where viewers are watching talent,” said Ellen Stone, executive VP of marketing for Bravo and Oxygen Media. “Sampling is sampling. We’ll take them on any platform we can get them. That’s why you see more and more brands who go wide with full episodes their first week out.”

Digital platforms that feature homegrown stars often get an unexpected hand from their talent.

“What makers do intuitively is that they think of it as a two-way conversation,” said McPherson. “They aren’t managing an audience, they are managing a community.”

“Digital natives really know how to market themselves and we should draft off that,” said Stone. “No one should feel like they know marketing enough not to take other people’s suggestions.”

Metrics have always been near and dear to marketers’ hearts but Hulu’s Wall says creating great marketing and great content remains a mix of old-fashioned-intuition and precise numbers.

“Data is a goldmine of fun,” says Wall. “For example, the most fun we could have is to take the data we have on Hulu and mix it with the data we have on Facebook. We’re able to use that to serve the right ad to the right person. That’s key to us connecting with the brand.

“It takes us back old school in the sense that we have to create a connection with our viewers. We’re all striving for brand love and loyalty beyond reason.”

Looking ahead, Hulu is prepping to enter the original content game in a big way, with 11/22/63 coming from J.J. Abrams and starring James Franco, and Jason Katims’ faith-based drama The Way, starring Michelle Monaghan.

“Hulu is about to blow up,” Wall said.

Another new technology that content producers are exploring is virtual reality, with McPherson and Wall saying their platforms were definitely evaluating it and Bernard noting that the “larger Fox corporation is looking at it as a content play. I do think it’s going to be a whole new Wild West when you can create the world that you want to be in.”

“We especially have to be there for our gamers because that equipment will be unlocked for games,” said McPherson. “We’re going to be able to experience one piece of content from many characters’ points of view. You’ll be able to create a 360-degree view and see it from all angles with your device.”

Image courtesy of Image Group LA.

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