Filed under: Multimedia, Internet Tools
Safari AdBlock Frees Hulu
TUAW reader Eric F sent in a note letting us know that "Safari Adblock allows you to watch Hulu programming completely commercial free!" I gave it a try. I downloaded a copy of Adblock from its SourceForge repository, installed it, activated it, and fired up Hulu. A nearly complete episode of Buffy later, I can confirm that I wasn't shown commercials. I haven't give this enough of a test obviously, to be able to say decisively one way or another -- especially since I don't regularly use Hulu -- but the news is promising enough that I thought I'd share. Let us know in the comments if this solution works for you.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Ryan said 3:07PM on 5-13-2008
I haven't had any commercials and never even thought it would be adblock that does it. Probably would have been better kept secret as there will probably be changes made now
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Grog said 3:43PM on 5-13-2008
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...
Ed said 4:14PM on 5-13-2008
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.
Josh said 3:08PM on 5-13-2008
Adblock Plus for Firefox has been doing this since I first got my beta invite about a week after they started going out. I've never once seen an ad on Hulu.
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Marc said 3:15PM on 5-13-2008
Cool and all, but is it that unreasonable for Hulu to show ads for this stuff? It's irresponsible to skip these. They're giving you free, high quality content that you want, let them make a little money on it in return.
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ceejayoz said 3:24PM on 5-13-2008
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.
Troy McClure SF said 3:39PM on 5-13-2008
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.
Ryan said 3:48PM on 5-13-2008
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.
Dalton said 3:51PM on 5-13-2008
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.
Luigi193 said 4:07PM on 5-13-2008
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...
Ryan Trevisol said 4:38PM on 5-13-2008
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.
eric f. said 9:20AM on 5-14-2008
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.
eric f. said 9:22AM on 5-14-2008
That second to last line should have read "Hulu does ADs right".
AriX said 3:18PM on 5-13-2008
Hulu. Not HULU. Great news though :) Time to get my copy :)
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Scott Graham said 3:23PM on 5-13-2008
By posting this you realize that they will now fix this :) I have enjoyed this commercial free viewing for months. It's great!
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punkassjim said 6:40PM on 5-13-2008
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."
Paul said 3:32PM on 5-13-2008
I have to agree with Marc - Hulu is a great site, where you see FAR fewer commercials than if you watch on TV. A 90 minute movie will give you 2-4 minutes of commercials, total. By spitting in the face of that and blocking the few ads, you're almost certainly hurting everyone. If you want to watch the shows and movies, at least be willing to see a minute worth of ads.
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David Chartier said 3:32PM on 5-13-2008
I'm sorry but I have to put in another vote for posts like this being pretty short-sighted and fairly disrespectful. Sites like Hulu, and TUAW itself, exist solely because of ad revenue. C'mon Erica, you have to know this.
Using ad blockers and promoting them completely destroys what is probably the only business model that these websites and services can use to actually stay in existence. I think some of Hulu's shows are available in the iTunes Store for inarguably minimal fees. Shows on Hulu.com are provided *free* exchange for watching a few incredibly short advertisements.
Websites aren't powered by good intentions, donations, and a sprinkle of fairy dust. They require money—lots of it—and a lot of people's hard work.
And before anyone digs it up: I know back when I wrote at TUAW I posted about an ad blocking app myself. Since then I've realized how detrimental these products are to the livelihood of a website and the human beings—and their families—who are behind them.
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Mo said 4:52PM on 5-13-2008
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]
Orion said 3:45PM on 5-13-2008
I wholeheartedly agree with the criticism here. I feel like they're actually being rather restrained with their advertising at this point.
Couldn't they plausibly detect when a user is skipping the commercials and block them after exceeding a certain threshold? Or maybe even just shoot out an email detailing their hard work to those users that are skipping the ads...
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