• On MovieTome: See the villain of IRON MAN 2!
March 26, 2008 10:10 PM PDT

Hulu's new school of advertising: Choice

by Harrison Hoffman
  • Font size
  • Print
  • 3 comments

When Hulu launched a couple of weeks ago, one of their big promises was to give users choice about how they want their advertising. While this was not available immediately on launch, Hulu is rolling out this capability now on certain content.

Giving users a choice in how they view ads makes for a really great experience. Many people come from the philosophy that ads spliced into a movie ruin the flow, so they would rather watch the pre-roll trailer. Others don't mind the break that the short advertisements provide when scattered throughout the movie. I personally really like the idea of watching a movie trailer before a movie on Hulu. It's an experience that we are all very familiar with. Regardless of your preferences, at least Hulu is giving you some control here.

Hulu has been very creative with their advertising and I really applaud them for that. On the whole, most people would classify advertisements as being annoying. Combining this new user choice style of advertising with their overlay advertising and more traditional forms provides an experience that is more engaging than annoying.

I'm not sure how long this feature has been on the site, but I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere and Hulu was unavailable for comment, so I thought that I'd bring it to everyone's attention.

Originally posted at The Web Services Report
Harrison Hoffman is a tech enthusiast and co-founder of LiveSide.net, a blog about Windows Live. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (3 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
by cr250guy March 27, 2008 10:32 AM PDT
ZOMG i was there when you took that pic : P
Reply to this comment
by belowtheradar April 2, 2008 10:23 AM PDT
I actually found using modernfeed a better experience
Reply to this comment
by syib4u August 4, 2008 1:36 PM PDT
HULU appears part of a conspiracy to destroy people?s sound cards. For the best movies one must turn up all the sound just to hear it. My 3.5 year old sound card sounds ten years old already.
Reply to this comment
(3 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

About Webware

Say No to boxed software! The future of applications is online delivery and access. Software is passé. Webware is the new way to get things done.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Webware topics

A CNET Conversation with Eric Schmidt

CNET's Tom Krazit and Molly Wood sit down with Google CEO Eric Schmidt to discuss the future of Android, the Chrome OS, the problem of real-time search indexing, and more.

Verizon tests sending RIAA copyright notices

The No. 2 phone company, known for its reluctance to intervene in antipiracy cases, strikes an agreement to forward copyright notices on behalf of the music industry.

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right