Case Study: Hulu launches a major UI update safely with LaunchDarkly

Hulu launches UI update to 39 million customers with LaunchDarkly

The customer Hulu faced challenges managing a major UI update across its five distinct code bases and approximately 30 different application versions in production. Their homebuilt feature flag system was a crude tool that lacked scalability and safety, forcing them to rely on slow, human-driven workflows and an 18-page launch agenda. To achieve a safer and more scalable release process, they turned to the vendor LaunchDarkly for its feature management platform.

LaunchDarkly's solution involved setting up its users to represent devices rather than people, utilizing custom attributes to identify customers without PII and to define information like device type. This allowed Hulu to seamlessly launch their new UI to 39 million customers using just five targeted rules. The result was the elimination of a complex, multi-page launch plan, enabling a controlled, big-bang release that could be paused or rolled back instantly with just a few clicks.

Hulu