No Hulu Ads, which is free, isn't the first browser extension to black out TV commercials for your viewing pleasure. It isn't the first to offer notifications letting you know when the blacked-out commercial break is over, pausing the show automatically until you return to that tab.
But it is the first to block the warning Hulu has put in place — the one that asks you to disable your ad blocker, and that strongly suggests you might not be able to see the service if you don't.
It's also the first extension we've seen to call out an online TV service by name — one that increasingly relies on ad revenue. (Hulu won't say if it intends to take any action against the developer; we've reached out to the developer for comment.)
It couldn't come at a worse time for Hulu. The service is plummeting in the comScore rankings of online video services, where according to last week's comScore numbers, Hulu is now out of the top 10. It still reaches less than 8% of U.S. viewers. Still, Hulu Plus subscriptions have doubled in the last year and annual revenue is up to $700 million, according to the CEO.
Meanwhile, Hulu's ads per user was the highest in the comScore rankings. The average Hulu viewer saw 65 ads in September, versus 20 for Google platforms such as YouTube.
Hulu's increase-the-ads strategy, which began back in 2011, was meant to make it an attractive online alternative for TV networks to sell ads on.
But could it be turning viewers off just as fast — so much that they'll download extensions to block the ads? Browse the Hulu discussion boards and you'll find a healthy number of comments attacking the service's ad frequency.
From Blackouts to Ad-Skipping
Meanwhile, the next frontier of ad-blocking technology lets you skip straight ahead to the next segment of the show.You may recall CBS barred its journalists at CNET from awarding the Dish Networks' Hopper their Best in Show at CES 2013 accolade. The CNET writers hadn't been particularly excited about this set-top box, but its ability to skip ads made it the best of a bad bunch of gadgets up for the award.
CBS saw red. TV ads are the network's lifeblood, and they were in the middle of suing Dish over the Hopper's "Auto Hop" feature. Execs ordered CNET to rescind the award. By overriding the journalists, however, they forced a high-profile resignation — and made the whole story a good deal more damaging.
The Hopper is far more widely known today than it would have been had CNET simply issued the award. Dish made hay with a marketing campaign; it released ads stating it had won Best of CES anyway. The ads bore a giant asterisk.
An article from mashable.com
Ad Blocking Gets Personal: Chrome Extension Targets Hulu
