Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Hulu Finds Less is More

Hulu, the online video site, finds that when it comes to advertising, less is more. In contrast to the multiple-ad format used by broadcast TV, only one ad is shown during each segment break on Hulu.

In a customer survey commissioned by Hulu and conducted in July and August, 76 percent of nearly 18,000 respondents said that the site had the right amount of ads given the "no incremental cost to view" format, according to the New York Times.

Just over 17 percent said there was less advertising than they expected. The survey also found a 22 percent increase in advertiser message association and a 28 percent increase in intent to purchase among users.

There might be some "novelty" element driving the findings, so everyone will have to wait and see whether ad effectiveness of this sort continues, on Hulu and other sites that may choose the same format.

Only one finding remains consistently true: consumers tend to say they "hate ads." They also prefer getting free content and will tolerate ads if that is the price of getting the content at no additional charge.

Hulu has another advantage, however. The ads are short, and there is no way to zip past them, as would be the case if viewing on a digital video recorder.

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