Threads' first ad deal comes from Hulu and creator Adam Rose

Threads may not have a formal ads program yet, but at least one ad has already appeared on the fast-growing app courtesy of a Hulu partnership with creator Adam Rose. Over the weekend, the content creator, actor and writer posted a Thread promoting “Futurama,” labeling it as a “Hulu Partner” message, which is being called the first sponsored Thread.

“It is 100% the first deal,” on Threads, according to Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, the creator and social media marketing ad firm. “We see sponsored tags, and nothing else has occurred.”

Sponsored tags are the hashtags that appear on paid posts, such as “#ad” or “#sponsored.” 

Threads only launched last Wednesday, but it already has surpassed 100 million sign-ups, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday. The app is turning into an alternative to Twitter with its text-based, real-time mass messaging. 

Brands have been quick to activate their own accounts, but it could take time for the paid advertising to take shape. On Tuesday, Axios reported that Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, was working to integrate paid promotions, which already are available on the rest of Meta’s apps. Paid activity can come in the form of plain ads from brands and brand partnerships that enrich creators.

Also read: How social media managers are navigating Threads

Meta did not respond to a request for comment about Hulu already posting a paid sponsorship. Hulu declined to comment, as well. Influential worked on the deal with Rose, who posted, “which Futurama character are you?” with an image of the cult-favorite cartoon that is coming back after years in cancellation.

Rose’s post generated 131 replies and 709 likes as of writing. He has 79,000 followers on Threads and 731,000 followers on Instagram. The “Futurama” post indicated that it was paid by using the hashtag “HuluPartner.” The Threads post was tacked on as an extension of a deal Rose had with Hulu to post on  Instagram Stories, which is the ephemeral video format on Instagram.

Creator monetization is an important component of any social media platform. Creators are the celebrities, micro-influencers, content-makers and otherwise most active members of any app. If creators can make money from their social efforts, they post more and keep viewers interested. Brands are cautious about creator marketing, however, trying to vet the stars to align with their products and service. Brands also worry about the social media platforms and the context in which their paid promotions appear.

“The challenge for any new platform, though, is that most people consume rather than create,” said Chapin Clark, R/GA’s executive creative director. “So, you need people, artists, comedy people, celebrities, journalists, regular weirdos, who are just good at posting, who can create stuff that draws people in. It’s an organic, messy thing. Hard, or impossible, to engineer.”

Advertisers have said they are hoping that Threads applies tight brand safety guidelines. But Meta has not revealed much about how monetization will work on Threads. It’s likely the same tools that apply to Instagram will come to Threads, through which creators and brands establish deals and launch promotions. TikTok, YouTube and Snap all facilitate creator-brand connections, too.

With creator marketing, brands want advanced metrics about the campaigns, such as how many conversions a post generated. On Threads, basic metrics, such as view counts, are unavailable.

Hulu’s Threads experiment came just as it launched a marketing campaign around adult animation, and the return of “Futurama” is a cornerstone of that strategy. Hulu is owned by Disney. Hulu created what it called a “sub-brand” called “Hulu Animayhem” to showcase “Futurama,” “Solar Opposites,” “Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War” and other programs with upcoming premieres. This is all timed to San Diego Comic-Con on July 20. Hulu said it had a TikTok campaign, among other social activities, planned.

Meta’s Threads is trying to challenge Elon Musk’s Twitter, and Musk has tried to make creator marketing more fundamental to the service. Twitter has announced plans to split ad revenue with top Twitter accounts when ads appear in replies to their posts. The early success of Threads has been tied to the fact that new accounts can attract the followers they already had on Instagram, which has a more developed creator marketplace.