Small rant, probably nothing much to get upset over (and I’m not upset, it’s just annoying), but yesterday, I’m watching a show on Hulu. Two or three commercials are about life insurance. Okay, I don’t mind. I don’t really watch the ads much anyway.
But then the fourth one wasn’t a commercial. It was an interactive page QUIZZING ME on the last three commercials I saw. What the hell? It didn’t even have a timer on it, which means I had to interact with it before the ad would go away. I clicked around a few times trying to find a way out (because I obviously didn’t want to have to answer the multiple choice quiz now presented to me just to move on…especially for commercials I A. Didn’t care about and B. Didn’t even pay attention to). Finally it gave me the option to return to my programming.
But now, today, I watch a commercial about heart health or something…giving the message people should be thankful for the time they have on earth. Afterwards…what’s this? Another interactive screen. And it wants me to type in a box what I’m thankful for and either tweet it or post it to Facebook. Whose bright idea were these kinds of commercials? Look, Hulu, I don’t want to have to take any fucking quizzes or post shit to my fb wall…I just want to watch my fucking show, without having to jump through hoops to get passed the ads. Commercials I understand and get…commercials that actually make you have to pay attention, interact with them, or post on social sites is, quite frankly, just a bit ridiculous.
Okay, vent over. : p
I know, first world problems, haha.
Are you sure about this? I watch a lot of Hulu. I’ve seen interactive commercials, but I’ve never interacted with them before. They usually time-out and go away. I’m usually doing other stuff during the commercials, so I don’t often see them.
If you didn’t interact with it, would it eventually time-out? If you’re forced to interact with it to watch the show, I’ll join you in your rant. For the moment, I’m OK with doing other stuff while the commercials play out.
Now, as to whether it would have eventually timed out and returned to the show, I don’t know. It probably would have, but like I said, there were no timers like most of the commercials on Hulu have.
Argh! I wanted to go confirm what you’re saying, so now you have me watching commercials!! :smack:
Trying to remember back, I think the interactive choice screens might not have the seconds ticking back, but they do time-out and pick the default commercial within a few seconds to a minute, unless that’s changed recently.
I want to piggyback on your rant that youtube just added commercials. Hulu has always had them, but youtube added commercials to pretty much everything. By the time you can opt out, the commercial is pretty much over. Since the clips on youtube are pretty short, the commercials are annoying. At least Hulu is usually showing a whole show when the commercials show up. The clips on Hulu usually have short ads.
Here’s an example I just got now, although this one was a bit less intrusive than the others. The others didn’t even give you the choice to press “start quiz” or not…the quiz just started.
But yeah, I don’t want to have to click buttons and start quizzes when it’s supposed to be commercials, you know? Especially if I’m already paying for Hulu (which I am).
I only watch through my smart TV and the only interaction they require is the occasional “Which ad experience do you prefer? Features - Jingle - Design Your Own”
I think even that is too much. I’m not too keen on paying to stream AND getting unskippable ads, but if that’s how it is going to be just get them out of the way quickly.
And what’s with the ads for hulu plus… ON hulu plus. I already subscribe, obviously! Just let me watch my damn show!
Here’s the prime example. I knew it was coming again because this is what it did before: It showed me three commercials about credit and credit scores and then quizzed me…
…so when I saw the same three credit score commercials, I knew that the quiz would be next (during the next commercial).
So I reiterate: Fuck you, Hulu. Don’t give me interactive commercial bullshit like this, please.
Again, the timer (in the upper, left corner) did not start until I actually clicked on the quiz. I waited a good minute or two to see if it would go away without me having to click, but apparently it doesn’t…otherwise, it might have just stayed on that screen forever.
Commercials just shouldn’t have to require you to click your mouse on them to start the countdown and I don’t think they should be any longer than 30 seconds either. All other Hulu commercials are 30 seconds, but this one (again, as you can see from the upper, left timer) was one minute long (I got the screenshot at the 41 second mark).
Gahhhhh.
I can’t believe people aren’t complaining about that. It’s an insult to pay money and then be required to do something before you can watch what you paid for.
I’ve been watching a lot of free Hulu lately. I haven’t seen those commercials. I had been contemplating paying for Hulu, but that’s a pretty hefty price to get stuck on a commercial like that. I hope they don’t start doing that in free Hulu as well.
I can’t believe that this bullshit is on the paid Hulu. I could see it on the free Hulu, but I’d expect it to quietly leave after there was a big, pissed-off uproar. Unless… They wanted to see consumer reaction on a smaller scale to decide whether to bring it to everyone.
It’s still incredibly stupid, even if so. Yes, Hulu, piss off the people who ARE paying for a membership AND show free users/freeloaders (like me!) what awesome “features” you’d get by paying money. I know that’d sure make ME want to throw money at them. :dubious:
My hulu complaint with commercials is that lately, one of the commercial’s volume is set really low so when my show comes back on, I can’t hear it. I can’t adjust the volume on the show itself because then my eardrums would explode when it fixed itself after the next commercial. So I have to relaunch the window. Sometimes this happens during every commercial break. I’ve been on Hulu since about week one and their commercial “experience” really sucks and keeps getting worse.
And people wonder why illicit downloading is rife?
Sure, let’s make the paying customers experience worse than the free version they can get elsewhere.
My three main entertainment streams are the BBC iPlayer (no ads), Netflix (no ads) and grooveshark (no ads). So that’s where my money goes and it will sharp go elsewhere should any of them try that bullshit with me.
Especially if I’m already paying for Hulu (which I am).
