• by P.J. Bednarski  @pjbtweet, November 3, 2015

As a way to keep viewers interested, improve viewability and repel bots, Fox will offer viewers a deal: Watch just one 30 second engagement ad and you can avoid two and a half minutes of the other, standard-issue blurbs you’d see otherwise.

The engagement ads come from 21st Century Fox subsidiary True[x] and will show up on Hulu (Fox owns a third of it) on Fox owned shows that show on that digital platform. Mondelez International, the candy-maker known for Swedish Fish and Halls cough drops.

It’s an interesting idea--at least  if viewers think so. The ads are guaranteed viewable by real people, satisfying the viewability plague bothering streaming sites. For Hulu, which competes with other OTT streamers that are ad free (Hulu also offers that option) the True[x] model at least lessens the presence of ads for viewers and makes the pitches different.

While the experiment will take place in Fox-owned shows that replay on Hulu, the interactive opt-in ads are available to shows from other studios.

“Digital video is an on-demand, non-linear medium, and having an ad format that fits this experience is a win for advertisers, publishers, and viewers alike,” Joe Marchese, Fox Network Group president of advanced advertising products, said in a statement.