Hulu is one of the oldest and longest-running streaming services, and arguably one of the most well-known (alongside Netflix). Hulu has a lot of content, and a lot of variety to boot, but the things that really help it stand out, in our opinion, are its great selection of cable TV shows and live TV services (great for if you don’t want cable or satellite television!). However, one downside that a lot of people experience with this service is the length of its ads, which has customers asking, why are Hulu ads so long?
Essentially, Hulu ads are so long because they make a lot of deals with advertisers to offset the relatively low cost of a subscription. This often results in ads that are quite long, as well as a long string of ads in a row.
Hulu ads are somewhat complicated, and have changed in a variety of ways over the years.
Why are Hulu ads so long?
As is the case with many services like Hulu, they offer their service at a relative budget price, and offset the loss in revenue via forming deals with advertisers. These deals lead to these aforementioned ads, and they try to pack ads as best they can. These companies form contracts with Hulu that require Hulu to show their ads a certain number of times and on certain shows to certain people, with the expectation that the deal will eventually be a favorable one for all parties.
Why do I keep getting the same ads?
Even if you are the kind of person who can put up with ads interrupting your viewing experience, that doesn’t mean you won’t get annoyed by the repetitious nature of the ads. There is often nothing worse than having to deal with watching the same ad over and over, especially if the ad is especially long and/or uninteresting. But why the heck do services like Hulu show the same ads so frequently?
There are a variety of factors that can inform ad repetition, chief among them being that the company, service, or product being advertised has a significant ad push going on. At its worst, Hulu has been criticized for playing the same ad multiple times in a row, which will do nothing more than make people hate what is being advertised. Thankfully, Hulu has acknowledged this problem, though honestly, streaming services — Hulu included — still have a problem with an ad being seen too much in a day or a week.
There is actually a study that touches upon this very issue, which came to the conclusion that there are only so many times you can actually show an ad in a week’s span, which comes out to no more than two times. The more times you try to show people the ad, the less effective the ad becomes. And as discussed, if the ad is shown far too often, this could result in them actually deriving a negative reaction from seeing it.
Why am I getting certain ads instead of others?
As discussed in the above section, some ads might get played far more often than others, and that is due to the algorithms that Hulu is using to target these ads. The algorithm considers a variety of factors, including gender, age, location, etc.
Is Hulu’s content worth the ads?
For many, there is a certain threshold of quality that a service must be able to meet before said service can actually justify putting ads on their content. So as far as Hulu’s content goes, we would definitely say that there are plenty of people who Hulu would appeal to; however, that does not mean that the appeal of Hulu is universal. If you want to pay the least amount for Hulu that you can, you can get access to Hulu’s library for only $6.99, while still having to watch ads.
While Disney Plus has a large majority of Disney’s content in the United States, it does not have all of it. This is because Disney does not want to host R-rated content on the website, and instead has it hosted on Hulu. This means that if you want to watch shows like Deadpool, you either have to be subscribed to Hulu (which can be done as a package with DIsney Plus and other services), or use a virtual private network (VPN) to access Disney Plus in Canada, where Hulu is not available.
Not everyone loves Marvel though, but they may still enjoy content like Fargo, arguably one of the best shows that the FX channel produced. It has excellent intrigue and plot, as well as a unique cast of characters. Plus, you’re not likely to grow sick of the stories, as each season is a new story.
Is there a subscription tier to remove or reduce ads?
The problem is, even having the best content won’t mean anything if the quality and frequency of ads is a dealbreaker. Thankfully, if you are willing to pay more per month, you can get around the ads. Ad-free Hulu will run you $12.99 per month, only $4.99 more than ad-supported.
How do I block ads on Hulu?
Due to how invasive ads can get, blocking them has become a pretty popular approach. There are many that say that you should not block ads, as it hurts the company’s business; however, especially during times of financial insecurity, people may not be able to afford to pay the extra cost for ad-free content.
On desktop, you can block ads using browser addons for Firefox and Google Chrome. Common brands of adblockers include AdBlock Plus and uBlock Origins, though Chrome even has an app called Hulu Ad Skipper, which gets straight to the point, doesn’t it? This also applies to mobile, though it may be somewhat trickier to get it working, and may depend on the browser.
When you are using Hulu on smart TVs or a game console (like PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch), blocking ads is a much more difficult thing, as these are typically not open platforms that allow for the downloading of unauthorized applications. If you want to block ads on these platforms, the best bet would be something like Pi-Hole; however, with smart TVs, you wouldn’t be able to block ads on Hulu.
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