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Comment by mediocregopher | Hacker News Reader

I had thought this was due to a glitch caused by adblock plus, since if you rewind back you can watch the part that skipped so it's not an intentional thing. I haven't actually gotten to testing it yet though.

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I don't have adblock anything, but it happens anyway.

isn't it annoying how adblock screws with hulus ads? it's almost harder to watch the thing without ads than with them. eww, did i just say that? shudder

Isn't it annoying when you try to build a valuable service and people destroy your business model by hacking away 3 minutes of ads for instant on demand web streaming of your favorite content? Seriously, you are what's wrong with the Internet. Just watch the ads dude. And you wonder why content providers pay distributors... Sheesh. Definition of ungrateful if I've ever seen it.

I actually kind of like Hulu's ad system compared to traditional ads. Most of them I've seen have a "did you like this ad" thing, so they can actually track if people liked the ads or not and advertisers can make better ads in theory. This all hinges on people actually judging the ads rather than the fact that there are ads, of course.

But it's intrusive as hell. It takes me out of the world of the TV show and kills the immersion.

I would much prefer, for instance, just watching a five-minute short film / ad at the beginning and then getting to watch the whole show.

The problem is you're much less likely to engage with or take notice of a five minute ad at the beginning of a show, you'll get up and make a cup of tea or browse HN in the background while you wait. There's also not much an advertiser can say in five minutes that they can't say in 30 seconds.

When shows are set up for commercials, it makes it a lot better. Leaving for a few minutes on a cliffhanger builds suspense. It's quite jarring when a show designed around commercials suddenly has none (like on DVD). You see a cliffhanger come up, it fades to black for one second, then it's right back with the resolution. At that point, the resolution isn't as satisfying since you didn't have to wait for it.

What seems "intrusive as hell" is the attitude that these guys bend over backwards to give you a better experience than Cable TV and you still complain about it.

So you want everything you want, when you want it, for free? I'll buy you a train ticket to reality so you can join the rest of us.

A bit late, but...

I actually pay for Netflix. It's a great, simple experience. I paid for Hulu Plus too for a month, and found the commercials unbearable (especially since, on my connection, it would stop to buffer whenever it went to commercial or back).

I'm not averse to paying. I'm averse to not having an option to pay, and having to resort to commercials.

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