Hulu Launches Binge Ad Experience As Users Sour On Interruptive Ads

The advertising industry has a problem: People don’t want to be interrupted by commercials anymore. Hulu is trying to fix that by offering new ad units that are less disruptive. On Thursday, the streaming service released an advertising experience designed to lighten ad loads for people watching multiple episodes of a show in a row. The new binge ads are short videos that tease an ad-free episode or offer the viewer a coupon code that they can redeem online, depending on the advertiser’s business objectives. Here’s how it works: Viewers will see regular commercial breaks during the first two episodes of a show. Before the start of the third episode, Hulu’s machine learning will trigger a binge ad experience depending on the user’s viewership behavior, the time of day and the program they’re watching.