Hulu's base subscription plan includes ads, which can be annoying if you like to binge watch TV shows. But now the streaming service is going to reward binge watching by offering the occasional ad-free episode.
On Thursday, Hulu introduced the new ad experience, which will activate when it suspects you're going to engage in a binge-watching session. On the third episode, Hulu will either serve up a message that says your episode will play ad-free, or you'll get a discount offer on a select product.
"Viewers desire advertising that is integrated and less disruptive to their storytelling experience," Hulu said in the announcement. "That's why we're committed to driving innovation that considers behavior and context when building new formats and experiences."
In this case, the innovation has involved creating a computer algorithm that can detect and predict when a user is going to engage in some binge watching. Once it does, the algorithm will then serve up special ads to capitalize on your hours-long TV viewing session through some psychological tricks.
For instance, Hulu partnered with the Sparkle papertowels brand to come up with a series of ads that not once shows the actual product. Instead, the ad's revolve around both Sparkle and the user enjoying TV. When the viewer gets to the third episode, a message from Sparkle will say: "Is it just us, or has TV brought us closer together? Let's celebrate this with an ad-free episode!"
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(An example of a discount offer from a Hulu binge watching ad.)
Hulu also partnered with Kellogg's Cheez-It brand to create ads about how TV watching is better with snacks, and thus you should buy some. Once the third episode is about to begin, an ad will pop up offering $1 off a Cheez-It snack.
Unfortunately, if you intend on binge watching a TV series throughout a whole day, Hulu will eventually resume with the normal ad flow. The streaming service told PCMag the ad-free/special discount reward will be capped to 3 times per day. But ultimately, less ads is a good thing. The base plan for Hulu goes for $5.99 a month while the ad-free subscription costs more at $11.99.