According to a report from Ad Age, Hulu has removed half the commercial time from their shows. In the past, Hulu commercial breaks could be 180 - 240 seconds, but since the beginning of the year, the service has been testing a smaller ad load.
Now, Hulu has informed partners that they have implemented the shorter ad breaks, capping them to just 90 seconds. Peter Naylor, head of advertising sales at Hulu told Ad Age: “It took a while to get everyone aligned. But everybody saw it was in the best interest of the viewer and the companies to have a consistent ad load.”
Earlier this year, Hulu dropped the price of their Limited Commercials plan to just $5.99 (from $7.99), while keeping their ad-free service at $11.99 a month. With the lower price, and reduced ad load — the company will be looking for ways to make up for the lost inventory.
Earlier this year, Hulu announced plans to launch pause ads, which will appear “like a translucent banner,” appearing on the right side of the screen when a user pauses during a show. They won’t appear for several seconds after you’ve paused, to allow time to rewind. Hulu hopes that these ads will be “subtle and relevant,” for viewers, getting brand messaging across without being obtrusive.
Changes are expected to the streaming service, who is now majority-owned by Disney, after closing their acquisition for 21st Century Fox. The company is also in active talks to possibly acquire an additional 10% stake in Hulu from AT&T (who acquired their stake in their acquisition of Time Warner) — which would give them a 70% stake in the streaming service.