CASE FILE · KM-06
The Data Case for "Hularious."
Hulu has 51.1M subscribers to Netflix’s 287M and Prime Video’s 200M. "Hularious," a monthly comedy special, is Hulu’s bet on closing that gap, if it’s booked and cut the way Hulu’s own comedy data says it should be.
Power BIGenre & Rating AnalysisConsumer/Media AnalyticsData StorytellingFoundations of Business AnalyticsLive Presentation
Case File Snapshot
StakeholderFoundations of Business Analytics, Final Project • Kaggle "Full Hulu Dataset"
RoleSole Analyst — Data Modeling, Analysis & Live Presentation
Dataset9,000+ Hulu Titles • 992 Tagged Comedy
Genre, Media Type & IMDb Rating Fields
MethodGenre-Level Rating Analysis, Genre-Combination Mapping
OutputsPower BI (.pbix) Live Report, 3-Minute Narrated Presentation
Applied ValueTurns a public ratings dataset into a booking brief for a real content bet
The Story
The Question
The presentation opens with the same question "Hularious," a planned monthly comedy special, is a bet on: is Hulu’s move toward comedy the right direction, or just a hunch?
The Tension
Comedy wasn’t just one genre among 9,000+ titles to check off. Comedy titles average a 7.12 rating against Hulu’s 6.56 platform-wide average, and the single highest-rated genre combination on the entire platform, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror at 8.6, has comedy in it. The audience was already rating comedy above the site’s own bar.
The Insight
The title data backs up the pitch: comedy already over-performs on Hulu, and it almost never plays alone.
The Approach
01Dataset SourcingPulled Hulu’s full title catalog (9,000+ titles, genres, IMDb ratings, and vote counts) from Kaggle for a Foundations of Business Analytics final project.
02Data ModelingBuilt the Power BI data model connecting genre, media type, rating, and vote-count fields across the full catalog.
03Genre & Rating AnalysisFiltered to the 992 comedy titles and compared their average rating (7.12) against Hulu’s platform-wide average (6.56).
04Genre-Combination AnalysisMapped comedy’s most frequent genre pairings and found Comedy, Fantasy, Horror the single highest-rated combination on the platform.
05Insight SynthesisTurned the rating and pairing data into 3 programming recommendations for "Hularious," Hulu’s planned monthly comedy special.
06Live PresentationPresented findings live from the .pbix file itself, manipulating the visuals in real time for a 3-minute in-class walkthrough.
Tools (Secondary)
Power BIDAXKaggle
Key Findings
InsightEvidenceStrategic Meaning
Comedy already out-rates the platform.Evidence992 comedy titles average a 7.12 IMDb rating, ahead of Hulu’s 6.56 average across all 9,000+ titles.Strategic MeaningComedy doesn’t need a marketing push to prove it works on Hulu. The ratings already show it.
The single best-rated genre combo on Hulu includes comedy.EvidenceComedy, Fantasy, Horror tops Hulu’s highest-rated genre combinations at an 8.6 average.Strategic MeaningHulu’s best-performing content isn’t comedy by itself. It’s comedy paired with something else.
Comedy is almost never booked alone, it’s always paired.EvidenceComedy-Drama is the most common pairing at 860 titles, then Comedy-Animation at 748, then Comedy-Action and Comedy-Romance at about 400 each.Strategic Meaning"Hularious" shouldn’t be straight stand-up. It should borrow from the genres comedy already succeeds next to.
Hulu’s own comedy hits skew nostalgic.EvidenceFriends and The Office are among the platform’s most popular, highest-rated comedies.Strategic MeaningThe audience already trusts familiar, veteran names. Booking should lean into that, not around it.
Hulu is still a distant third on subscribers.Evidence51.1M Hulu subscribers vs. 287M at Netflix and 200M at Prime Video.Strategic Meaning"Hularious" can’t out-spend Netflix and Prime. It has to out-program them in the one genre Hulu already wins.
The System
The pitch breaks into three "Hularious" moves:
- Bite-Sized Comedy Special — Cut each special into short, shareable, phone-first clips, and keep the specials themselves to 30–60 minutes.
- Nostalgic Guest Appearances — Book familiar, veteran names like Chris Rock and Steve Carell, the kind of comedy Friends and The Office prove the audience already rates highest.
- Voice-Actor Showcase — Bring in the actual voice actors behind Hulu’s popular animated comedies, H. Jon Benjamin (Archer, Bob’s Burgers) and Justin Roiland (Rick and Morty), since animation is comedy’s second-most common pairing on the platform.
Output Preview
"Hularious" Moves · 1/3
Strategic Recommendations
Bite-Sized Comedy Special
Cut each special into short, shareable, phone-first clips instead of asking casual viewers to sit through the full 30–60 minute cut.
Nostalgic Guest Appearances
Book familiar, veteran names like Chris Rock and Steve Carell. Hulu’s own highest-rated comedies, Friends and The Office, show the audience already leans nostalgic.
Voice-Actor Showcase
Bring in the actual voice actors behind Hulu’s popular animated comedies, H. Jon Benjamin (Archer, Bob’s Burgers) and Justin Roiland (Rick and Morty), since animation is comedy’s second-most common pairing on the platform.
Selected slides from the live Power BI presentation.
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