Hulu’s Expanded Advertising Options

Hulu knows a thing or one billion about online video advertising. The on demand premium streaming video destination for major motion pictures and television programs delivers roughly 1,000,000,000 online video ads every month to 24 million or so individuals in the United States at a rate of about one ad per every four-and-a-half to five-and-a-half minutes of programming.

The vast majority of those video ads appear on viewers’ computer screens by way of Hulu’s Ad Selector. The Ad Selector (ASq) is an advertising format most easily described as “pre-roll with benefits.” It gives viewers the ability to control their entire ad experience during Hulu’s video playback by giving viewers a choice in the ads they’re forced to consume.

The Ad Selector displays two or three advertising options (which are comprised of different brands, brand categories, or commercial length) before the selected content begins. Viewers then choose their preferred advertising option and sit back to watch both their chosen content and commercials.

It’s not the type of video advertising you see on every site! That, and because of the quantity of ads Hulu delivers every month, make this sendup of the service by Slate V’s Scott Blaszak especially good.

It’s like the Vacationeers’ plea for a faux crowd funding campaign. A kinda insidery online video and entertainment industries joke about something relatively new and popular that quickly escalates into absurdity. I would also totally pay to watch Ben Silverman try to convince The Office writers to structure an episode around a McFlurry.