We all hate the ad breaks and with gadgets like Tivo we can just fast forward but what about online tv streams? Theres no way around the ad breaks and thats not making viewers happy.
However Hulu the online tv website has been experimenting during the last year with single ads and interactive ads allowing viewer participation and its working.
Instead of the long drawn out ad breaks plagueing TV viewers, only one advertisment is broadcast during each break on Hulu. And less ads make them more memorable to the viewer which allows them to charge a higher premium.
Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar said:- ‘The notion that less is more is absolutely playing out on Hulu. This is benefiting advertisers as much as it is benefiting users.”
Whilst the Hulu site was’nt the first to deliver full length TV episodes, it is now the dominant force for ad driven TV and movie streaming media. Started barely a year back with a mear 10 advertisers on board, it now has over 100 sponsors, including major companies on its books.
Hulu has seen steady growth, supplying 142 million streams to 6.3 million unique viewers during the month of September and is now the sixth most popular online website in the USA. Even overtaking major players such as ESPN, CNN, MTV and Disney websites. It does however still trail behind the mighty YouTube, which shows 20 times more videos than any other website. Hulu is also still behind sites Yahoo, Fox, MSN amongst others.
Because of its massive library of over 1,000 tv shows and 400 movies, Hulu’s audience is growing faster than the networks Websites and video sites such as Veoh, Joost and Metacafe.
The website which is jointly owned by NBC Universal and News Corporation isnt yet profitable, it has gained praise from many advertising executives.
A big factor on its popularity comes when looking at the quantity of ads. Comedies like Family Guy and The Office average eight minutes of ads when aired on TV. Hulu shows only 2 minutes of ads during the same shows.
“We think that a modest amount of advertising is the right thing because that’s going to drive atypical results for marketers,” Mr. Kilar said. He said the site had no plans to increase the advertising load.
Interestingly one in four viewers participate if the ads are interactive. Companies such as Nissan show multiple versions of commercials for viewers to choose from. Users also are able to vote on whether they like or dislike ads that are shown.
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