What Are We Going to Do Tonight, Hulu?

Well readers, it's finally happened. We went to a commercial website in order to view an advertisement for that same website, whose business it is to host videos, like the one below, supported by advertisements, like the one below. TV advertising has finally gone fractal.



This of course was shown during the Super Bowl, where it first caught our attention. On the face of it, it's a pretty good commercial. Designed to appeal to a sophisticated audience of web-savvy types, who will appreciate the ironic message that this product is a subversive attempt to exploit its own consumers, as well as the style of a TV star roughly approximating the character he plays on a show known to appeal to viewers with a sophisticated sense of humor (the show that gets the Emmys, while Two and a Half Men gets the audience).

But there are a couple issues here that give us pause. First of all, they are venturing into typically dangerous waters with the idea that they are advertising a product that will cause its users harm. It makes me think of Don Draper on Mad Men chastising his subordinates for suggesting that they could use the image of cigarettes as "toxic" as a subversive way to advertise the product. "Advertising is based on one thing: happiness," not making people feel self-conscious about the product they're using. Another Draperism that comes to mind is, "There has to be advertising for people don't have a sense of humor."

But are these things really a problem? Is anyone under the illusion that this commercial will grow the audience of people who don't already know about Hulu? Will it give potential new viewers an understanding or appreciation for the material Hulu offers? Or does it not matter, since the people who don't get the commercial won't be sophisticated enough to get into Hulu anyway? (Or possibly, because they aren't likely to have jobs that allow them to sit around and watch streaming video off the web all day?) I get the sense that this is one of those preaching-to-the-converted commercials meant to instill pride in those who already buy the product – angling for the "I use this product because the people who make it get me" effect. The follow-up to one of the above Draperisms is apropos: "It's a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you're doing is OK." In this case, the billboard says, "If you spend all your time on Hulu, you don't have to be self-conscious about being a brainless couch potato – because we've turned that whole idea into a big joke."

But there's another catch here. Because we're looking at a TV advertisement for something that, in some ways, intends to replace television as we know it. So why are they running this ad on TV at all?

Well, not so fast there. It's debatable whether Hulu is really the end of television. It could represent the end of simultaneous television as a medium, but it could also represent the resurgence of television as an art form. Our friend Randall Stross of the New York Times reminds us that while online news has been killing the newspaper business, sites like YouTube have only helped to make television stronger. In some very fundamental ways, there's little difference between the TV screen and the computer screen, and very soon they could be one and the same. He also points out that advertising for online video has still not caught up to television – although Mad Men reminds us of a time when, despite a large number of households watching television, TV advertising was still considered subordinate to newspapers, signs and billboards.

For now, we have to wait and see how pervasive the Hulu culture becomes, whether it will remain a niche audience of grad students and semi-professional bloggers, or if it will "take over the world" as it self-satirically promises to do. In the meantime we get to see more of our favorite stars of critically-acclaimed but ratings-averse shows promoting this off-beat campaign.



Enjoy, we shall.