CreatorIQ’s January analysis of the streaming industry reveals that only four platforms saw month-over-month growth in Earned Media Value (EMV), led by Hulu. EMV is CreatorIQ’s metric for quantifying the estimated value of consumer engagement with digital earned media. 

Hulu’s $26 million EMV represented a notable 30% increase from what it saw in December, and it was up 17% compared to January 2023. Hulu also saw an expansion of its community, up 19% month-over-month. The other three streamers that had an EMV increase were Max (+19%), Peacock (+17%) and Netflix (+11%). Prime Video, which was a standout in December 2023 thanks to NFL action on social media, experienced a 21% month-over-month decrease in EMV. 

“The cord-cutting movement has given viewers on-demand access to endless entertainment across streaming platforms, and now there are thousands of streaming programs fighting for attention,” said Alex Rawitz, Director of Research and Insights at CreatorIQ. “Creators are becoming an increasingly important part of the streaming TV marketing playbook, as they have the proven ability to drive not only tune-in, but social conversations that extend the lifecycle of the program. And with the similarities between streaming and digital, advertisers are now able to track these conversions with more granularity than on traditional TV."

By touting a range of its programming available on Hulu, FX Networks was the streamer’s top EMV-driver, generating a total of $1.6 million, nearly $1 million more in EMV than its No. 2 earner, Fox. FX on Hulu original The Bear was the overall No. 3 driver of EMV, largely thanks to social activity surrounding its six wins at the Emmys in January.

One of the top Instagram posts by EMV was a clip from season two, episode nine of Carmy and Sydney’s intimate (although platonic, as Jeremy Allen White has insisted) conversation under a table.

For more insights around the creator economy, check out CreatorIQ’s Top 10 reports here.