Hulu Will Accept Ads About Political Issues After #BoycottHulu Backlash

A leading streaming platform has changed its advertising policies after facing a public backlash from politicians. Here’s the latest on Hulu’s advertising policy.

What Happened: Hulu, a streaming platform majority-owned by Walt Disney Co DIS, will accept political issue advertising after reevaluating its advertising policy, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Disney, which owns 67% of the platform, announced the decision Wednesday in a move to bring Hulu’s advertising policy in line with its ESPN+ streaming platform and network and cable channels. Comcast Corporation CMCSA owns the remaining 33% of Hulu.

“After a thorough review of ad policies across its linear networks and streaming platforms over the last few months, Disney is now aligning Hulu’s political advertising policies to be consistent with the Company’s general entertainment and sports cable networks and ESPN+,” a Disney representative told The Hollywood Reporter.

With the change, Hulu will now accept “candidate and issue advertisements covering a wide spectrum of policy positions.” Hulu said it reserves the right to request edits on advertisements.

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Why It’s Important: Hulu has been targeted by several Democrat-led groups after rejecting advertisements about abortion and gun safety. Ads from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Governors Association all had ads rejected by Hulu.

The report said the same advertisements were able to run on ESPN and ABC, both owned by Disney. The advertisements were also aired on social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, owned by Meta Platforms Inc META and Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL, respectively.

Hulu faced public criticism including the hashtag #BoycottHulu on social media over the advertisements being rejected.

“Hulu’s censorship of the truth is outrageous and offensive. Voters have the right to know the facts about MAGA Republicans’ extreme agenda on abortion — Hulu is doing a huge disservice to the American people,” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tweeted.

Disney’s streaming platform Disney+ recently shared details of how selective it will be in advertisements. The platform, which is geared to families and kids will not allow political advertisements or commercials for products such as alcohol. Disney+ also won’t feature advertisements from rival streaming platforms or media companies.

Hulu ended the second quarter with 45.6 million subscribers, up 10% year-over-year. Disney’s direct-to-consumer segment saw revenue of $4.9 billion in the second quarter, up 23% year-over-year.

DIS Price Action: Disney shares are up 1.48% to $101.26 on Wednesday at publication.

Photo: Mano Kors via Shutterstock