FX Head John Landgraf Explains How Hulu Has Helped the Brand

Prepare for a FX to get aggressive. Throughout the Television Critics Association’s 2021 summer season tour, FX head John Landgraf introduced that the model might be launching 30 exhibits throughout its channels and types FX, FXX, and FX on Hulu. This transfer, Landgraf revealed, has been made to place FX for the longer term.

Thirty exhibits could not seem to be many for different networks or streamers, however it’s a ton for FX. For years the community has prided itself on giving specialised consideration to its exhibits, creators, stars, and advertising campaigns. This customized consideration has seen returns. Although FX has far fewer exhibits than streamers like Netflix and HBO, its slim but particular slate sometimes hits far above its weight class in terms of awards competitions or phrase of mouth reputation. Look no additional than the essential success of American Crime Story and Atlanta or the industrial success of Dave and The New York Instances Presents: Framing Britney Spears. Ramping up its focus to 30 exhibits was a really particular alternative on the community’s behalf.

“I feel that scripted programming consumption is rising very quickly on streaming platforms, and conversely it appears to be declining on linear channels,” Landgraf mentioned.  “That’s why it was actually, vitally necessary for FX to actually play a significant half in a part of the ecosystem that’s rising. As you’ve seen Hulu is a very, actually vibrant platform, and it’s rising very, very quick.”

In March of 2020 FX launched FX on Hulu. The community vertical gives unique exhibits which might be solely out there on Hulu in addition to a streaming dwelling for FX originals the day after new episodes premiere on FX. “So far as I’m involved that positions us in direction of the longer term,” Landgraf defined.

The community head was additionally frank in regards to the challenges of making tv on this crowded panorama, not to mention the problem of launching a number of new exhibits. “That is the place I feel the bar of high quality and originality is so intensely excessive. You don’t do that, none of us does this for a dwelling with out being accustomed to working in an intensely aggressive surroundings. I’ve by no means skilled a stage of competitors or an surroundings that’s as crowded because the one we’ve been in tv for the final a number of years,” Landgraf mentioned. “I assume I might say [this] is a vertical stack the place the fabric is commonly produced by FX Productions or twentieth Tv or ABC Studios — not at all times, however virtually at all times often. We type of have management of the method quantitatively general from finish to finish.”

FX on Hulu has additionally given the model entry to a barely distinction viewers than its linear channels. “There’s a barely totally different viewers between these two distribution platforms. Sometimes, Hulu is meaningfully youthful. Its viewers is meaningfully youthful. I assume on common it’s possibly 15, 16, 17 years youthful. I feel the attribute of who would possibly pattern or see the present might be barely totally different relying on it,” Landgraf mentioned.

At its core, FX’s partnership with Hulu is a powerful experiment from a community that revels within the experimental. Few networks have actually tried to create alongside streaming providers, as a substitute of merely handing over their libraries to streamers or competing with them. It additionally appears to be a big gamble that’s paying off.

“If you happen to return to the exhibits that we’ve launched since March of 2019, we truly had one of the crucial profitable batting averages throughout that span that we’ve ever skilled within the 19 years of FX, or the 17 years I’ve been on the channels,” Landgraf revealed. “So it’s arduous. I can let you know the group is de facto stretched due to the form of bespoken, customized relationships we pay to the expertise of every particular person present. However that’s the problem right here. The problem right here is how efficiently might we scale that course of? And the way a lot might we contribute to Hulu and Disney with out decreasing our batting common or type of diminishing the success or high quality of our exhibits?”