CANNES — It was the subject of a thousand interactive TV dreams in the nineties – the ability to buy products straight from ads seen on the TV screen.
Now Hulu has enabled it, and its ad chief thinks the future has finally arrived.
The new ad unit, called T-Commerce, was launched with interactive firm BrightLine, and allows viewers to buy things with their connected TV remote control or game joypad.
The pair ran a T-Commerce ad for the Tomb Raider movie to buy tickets through Fandango, back in March.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Hulu ad sales SVP Peter Naylor explains: “The opportunity creatively is really to go beyond 15s and 30s.
“We’re happily taking 15s and 30s from marketers but marketers need to really understand that, with 100% connected television environment, you can do video libraries, photo galleries, you can do all sorts of data collections. I almost think it’s an imperative that they look beyond the conventional 15 and 30.”
Hulu is no stranger to innovating with user experience. The service allows viewers to pick up their show from one device on another, and its live TV service is currently gaining plaudits for the way it melds with the on-demand experience.
