Web Site’s Formula for Success: TV Content With Fewer Ads

New York Times, October 29, 2008 — “THUMBS up” and “thumbs down” ratings for commercials. Choose-your-own-advertisement options before shows begin. Interactive games during advertising breaks.

In the last year these online advertising innovations have been popularized by Hulu, the online video Web site that will celebrate its first anniversary on Wednesday. For all that has been written about Hulu’s easy-to-use, aesthetically pleasing interface, the advertising experience is equally important.

In the place of the long commercial pods that TV viewers have become accustomed to, only one ad is shown during each segment break on Hulu. Fewer ads make the ones on the site more memorable, Hulu executives say, allowing the site to charge higher prices for the ad units.

Courting the Mind of a Different Kind

Thought Leaders: In the Near Future, Marketers Will Need to Sway Computers' Brand Preferences

CMO Strategy by AdAge, February 5, 2007 — Google, Yahoo and MSN aggregate information of many kinds, including the brand preferences and opinions of consumers; now there is evidence that computer programs at the root of these services are forming rudimentary brand preferences and opinions of their own.