Most of us have started using Hulu to replace a significant amount of our traditional tv watching.  The convenience is great because you can watch virtually any show you want whenever you want on any computer. 

But there's one thing that bothers me every time I watch a show on Hulu.  That's the commercials.  Why should advertisements online follow the outdated system that tv networks use?  Television has a fundamental limitation which is that the content is broadcast so they can't customize content for each specific user.  Online videos are sent to a specific users, so why not take advantage of it?

Hulu should give me the option of skipping all the ads for one show if I take a survey giving them my gender, age, and location.  Then they could incentivize me to log into my account by offering me one less ad per show (or something like that).

Here's an example of the type of experience I would expect after giving Hulu all the information they need about me.  The first ad I see is for Dominos.  I don't like their pizza, so I ignore it (or give it a thumbs down).  The next ad is for Wendy's which I like.  I click a button that says "send me a $1.00 off coupon" and the show starts up again.  When I am done watching the show, I check my email to find a coupon which I print and then take to the nearest Wendy's.

I prefer this because I'm seeing ads that I care about.  Wendy's likes this because they didn't just show me an ad, they generated action.  Hulu likes this because Wendy's would be willing to pay more for that one ad than all the ads that run during an hour long show combined currently pay.

I've heard that marketing is the last untrackable money sink in the business world.  You have no idea how many sales you're converting if you just broadcast an ad to every person watching a show.  If you show me targeted ads and allow me to provide feedback (in the form of asking for a coupon or something) then not only am I more likely to buy, but you can track it if I do.

This seems obvious.  I'm sure you've already thought of it.  Yet for some reason it doesn't seem to be happening.  There's hope though.  It looks like Google is getting into the media advertising game.  They are already the largest ad company in the world and I'm sure they would absolutely dominate this new online video market if they decide to get involved.  Fingers crossed.