They need to 1) includes ads into small clips (3-5 min) and 2) vary the advertising on full television episodes. Seeing the same Toyota ad seven times isn't helpful to the consumer.
But it's helpful to the marketer. It takes at least that many impressions to even register.
This is actually why I'm surprised by how little money online advertising makes. It would be possible for an advertiser to buy several impressions with the same user--or a series of ads being shown to the same user. Everything I've ever read about marketing tells me this would be more effective than an ad shown to five different people only once.
They need to 1) includes ads into small clips (3-5 min)
I recently built an HTPC with Media Center. When I first fired it up, I browsed to the "watch TV online" thing...clicked on the first popular clip. 30 second ad. 45 second clip. Never again will I browse to that option on my HTPC. Ever.
Anything less than 5 minutes with an ad is gonna piss me off.
But, I do love Hulu. The quality isn't as good as I'd like for most of the shows and movies (that HTPC is hooked up to a 46" 1080p TV), and I had to hit bittorrent to catch up on Battlestar Galactica this season when I missed the first couple--they only have the last three or four episodes on Hulu and scifi.com--but I still like being able to catch up on shows at my convenience.
2. I too don't understand why they play the same one or two ads for the entire movie. It honestly gets annoying, which seems like something you don't want your advertising to do. At this point I just mute them.