I always wondered why I don't see commercials on NBC's website on my Macbook but do on my desktop PC. Like you, I never really thought that Adblock could be the reason.

But yeah, thanks for announcing it to the world...

Same here. I've been using AdBlock for a while and I tried Hulu for the first time the other day. Never even thought about why there were no ads, but I didn't complain.

I absolutely agree with Marc.

We've been begging TV and movie studios to provide their content with reasonably low levels of DRM, cross-browser compatibility, and preferably free.

Now we're going to bite them hard for finally doing it?

Pony up and watch the minute or two of advertising. It's well worth it for content we're getting. Hell, get up and go get a drink while it plays if you must.

I agree. Hulu nailed it. High-quality and free. I'm more than happy to watch a few ads to encourage development of Hulu, and who knows, maybe even something better.

I don't think it is unreasonable at all. I watch hulu on my pc as well and have never been upset that I have to watch ad's. I never have ad's on my iMac but didn't think it had anything to do with what I had installed. The fact that it is adblock causing this doesn't mean I am going to go install it on my PC, I actually added hulu to my whitelist in safari because I use the site enough and its not invasive advertising.

I must be getting older to feel sympathy for a giant media company like NBC, but I, too, feel like skipping the ads on Hulu is the wrong thing to do. I appreciate them making the content available, isn't watching a couple of ads worth it? Although I would *much prefer* to just pay the $2 to be able to download them on my Apple TV without ads.

I haven't quite squared this with the fact that I also have a Tivo and have no problem skipping ads there. It's a complicated world we live in, I guess.

I think they report the same views to the MEGAcorporations if you watch the adds or not...

I just don't really have ANY compassion towards the multibillion dollar companies... and the number of people skipping adds are probably very few and it is bound to be fixed in an update...

Excellent point, Marc. I would sit through those commercials gladly if the content I wanted was on Hulu. For example, the one show I watch, Law and Order SVU, isn't on there, so if I miss an episode, I either have to buy it from iTunes (bloody likely! I pay for DirecTV already!), or torrent it.

I'd MUCH rather watch it with 4-5 commercials on my laptop.

The other day i saw the X-Files movie, and I really liked it. I'd love to start watching the show, but only want to watch the "mytharc" episodes. I'd much rather watch them on hulu with commercials than have to get the DVDs from Blockbuster only to watch 1 or 2 episodes off each disc.

I agree too. On the Macbook I normally use for Hulu, I don't have adblock installed. The funny thing is that Hulu has the most unobtrusive and least annoying Ads of any site or network. the ads are super short and don't blast at you at 300% the program volume (like ABC), plus the show starts automatically after the 5 seconds or so of advertisement (unlike ABC). hulu does as right.

Too bad this doesn't work on ABC.com instead.

That second to last line should have read "Hulu does ADs right".

I have a handful of handy little workarounds that I use to buck the system and stick it to the man...and I'd never in a million years dream of sending a tip to TUAW about any of them. Because honestly...as much as I'd like to share with my buddies, I also know as soon as it's public knowledge, the show's over. So, thanks "reader Eric F." You'll be responsible for the shutdown of a loophole, or as I like call it, "the fun."

While I agree with you with respect to Hulu: there's a clear value proposition there (i.e., it's obvious that you get the content *in return for* seeing the ads, and they'll get paid by impression), the vast majority of web advertising is pay-per-click. Is TUAW any different in this respect? If not, ad-blockers are irrelevant, because they simply stop adverts which do nothing but irritate from being shown to people who'd never ever click through anyway [and TUAW, amongst other sites I visit, has had its share of immensely irritating adverts which have come close to putting me off a site altogether—but because they're usually brokered, it's inevitably a shoulder-shrug when they're complained about]