What Is the New Hulu Ad Swap
I love Hulu because it keeps me up to date with my comedy staples like The Office, Modern Family, and Community. This week when i was getting caught up I noticed that Hulu has changed how it does commercials. Before I would have to sit through whatever ad they had scheduled and if i got bored i could click on the button that asked “is this ad relevant to you?”
Now Hulu has given viewers the option to “Swap” commercials. So if you are really sick of seeing Viagra or tampon commercials you now have the power to swap it to something else. The picture below shows what Hulu’s new ad swap looks like.
What Hulu’s Ad Swap Means For Viewers
- Able to choose commercials/products they actually want to watch
- Avoid awkward gender specific products
- New variety of commercials, instead of the same one played over and over during the show
What Hulu’s Ad Swap Means For Advertisers
- Can have commercials seen across several different shows
- Better analytics of which shows that have viewers most interested in there products
- Need to produce better commercials that viewers will actually want to view
What Is The Future Of Commercials?
Does this mean that all commercials are going to have to evolve to Super Bowl status so that people will select and watch their commercial over their competitors? Will people be able to find a way around the commercials, like a online Tivo which decreases the effectiveness of the commercials?
Where do you see brands pushing commercials in the future?
I suppose if I have to watch commercials I would rather swap them for something I would prefer, but I do feel manipulated by that kind of platform since they just learn what I like more. I suppose everyone needs to make a buck though; I certainly don’t mind being on the other end of that stick. My employer, DISH, has commercials on dishonline.com for shows, but what I like is that there are thousands of movies too that are commercial free. Even people who don’t subscribe to DISH can watch free movies there too, which is the way more companies should be. I hook my laptop up to my TV too sometimes and watch away if I don’t already have it on my DVR with DISH. Benjamin, I do see this happening more often, and interactive TV through the internet, even with set-top-boxes is something that could be seen more often in the future.