Hulu Will Return as the Official Streaming Destination of the 2023 Essence Festival of Culture

Last year, Hulu served as the Official Streaming Destination of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture™ presented by Coca-Cola®, marking the first time the festival made programming from its groundbreaking event available on a streaming platform. Following the success of that collaboration, Hulu will return again this year to deliver ESSENCE Fest Primetime to all its subscribers. The official livestream will feature performances from all three of the festival’s evening concert headliners – Ms. Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott, and Megan Thee Stallion – and many more artists including Doug E. Fresh, Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, Eve, Salt-N-Pepa, T.I. Ice Cube, Ice-T, Remy Ma, Trina, Gucci Mane, Big Boi, Lil Jon, Monica, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, and Jagged Edge.

ESSENCE Fest Primetime is a nightly five-hour star-studded live show, available to all Hulu subscribers at no additional cost. Celebrity hosts including Rocsi, Ed Lover, Big Tigger, Pretty Vee, and more will share highlights from the daytime experiences and exclusive virtual-only content, before viewers are taken inside the Superdome for the epic live music performances. ESSENCE Fest Primetime will livestream on Hulu Friday, June 30 – Sunday, July 2 from 7:00PM – 11:59PM CT. This year’s ESSENCE Fest Primetime is sponsored by Target.

“It is great to be reteaming with our incredible partners at ESSENCE,” said Adia Matthews, Hulu’s VP Brand Partnerships & Synergy. “We are thrilled to join them in celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop throughout the festival weekend by bringing this iconic event back into the homes of our viewers, once again.”

“The partnership between ESSENCE and Hulu is a perfect example of the media industry moving toward a ‘phygital’ future. We’re thrilled that Hulu’s viewers will get to experience a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop, produced as only ESSENCE can,” said Pauline Malcolm-Thornton, Chief Revenue Officer at Essence Ventures.

Additional details regarding the full ESSENCE Fest Primetime line-up and livestream schedule will be unveiled HERE in the coming weeks.

Since 2020, Hulu has become the destination for live events, including an impressive music offering that brings some of the country’s most iconic festivals into the homes of all subscribers. From June through October, Hulu will serve as the Official Streaming Destination for at least one festival a month, with livestreams of Bonnaroo June 16-18, the ESSENCE Festival of Culture™ in July, Lollapalooza in August, iHeartRadio Music Festival in September, and Austin City Limits Musical Festival and iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina in October.

This year Disney returns to the ESSENCE Festival of Culture™ as a major entertainment sponsor to celebrate Black culture and community across its brands, content, talent, and experiences through performances, panels and more. Specific programming will be announced at a later date.