Few choices are more emotional and personal than “Favorite Shows”. Why we watch what we do speaks volumes about likes/dislikes, our mood state, various influencers, and taste preferences. Hulu used streaming data to identify common viewing behaviors, and derived six predictive groups from billions of these viewer interactions. Data insights defined a newcomer group of our viewers who wanted to actively be part of what “everyone else” is talking about to stay current with their peers (internally known as FOMO’s—Fear Of Missing Out). Predictive targeting also defines another group of voracious content consumers, where TV viewing is one of their strongest passion points—these viewers (our Treasure Hunters) are constantly searching for their next “treasured” moment.

Launching all nine seasons of Seinfeld was the highest profile test of our data-driven strategies. Past viewing data defined two groups (Treasure Hunters and FOMO’s) as the best targets. However, younger FOMO’s came of age long after Seinfeld’s premiere in 1989. We had to make Seinfeld appear fresh and relevant for these groups, which shaped our initial “Seinlanguage” launch campaign. Our Treasure Hunters immediately responded, but Seinfeld newbies, trained by binge-viewing from episode 1, quit watching at some point before Season 4.

If we had purely relied on algorithmic recommendations, the early FOMO abandonment of Seinfeld would have become self-reinforcing, thus stopping a new generation of fans, weakening subscriber engagement and diminishing Seinfeld’s value to us. New viewers abandoned after watching the pilot (universally panned as possibly the worst episode). Many more new viewers abandoned during the first 3 seasons. Why were new and younger viewers dropping away from arguably the greatest sitcom of all time?

Implicit within Hulu’s overall brand promise of TV That Loves You Back, is a deep and curated knowledge of likely TV favorites for all of our behavioral target groups. This knowledge blends viewer data, outside profiles, and most critically, judgments from our experienced and passionate editorial team. Our editorial team identified the insight behind the FOMO data: Seinfeld was nearly cancelled several times in its first 3 years. It truly hit its stride in Season 4, when Seinfeld became SEINFELD.

Our targeting challenge with FOMO’s became crystal clear – we needed to get these viewers into Season 4 and beyond, so they could learn to enjoy the show like more experienced fans. This insight guided a reboot of our creative approach for new viewers to Seinfeld.

The initial launch of Seinfeld generated interest and engagement, with target consumers 2x more likely to subscribe to our service with the addition of Seinfeld. After one week, views for seasons 1-3 represented 67% of total views. The data targeted campaigns increased overall Seinfeld viewership dramatically, with Seinfeld generating 3x more streams than the next most popular show launch on Hulu. After one month, views for seasons 1-3 decreased to represent 46% of total views, and after three months, this percentage decreased further to 35% indicating that our campaign shift accomplished its goal of driving more views to the more popular seasons (4-9). 1 in 3 subscribers are watching Seinfeld, with more than 3 billion minutes watched in the second half of 2015.

Seinfeld has become the most important launch for our service in 2015. Millions of new viewers have overcome the barriers of the first few seasons and now love Seinfeld as much as experienced fans. Our data-informed and curated approach to Seinfeld not only helped Hulu make a 26-year old show feel fresh—it also ensured that TV’s greatest show about nothing will continue to delight new generations of fans.