Lost in TV

Lately, I've been completely consumed. When I'm not working or teaching, I've been Lost. I've been completely consumed by Lost. ABC's smash-hit show had taken over my life.

Well, that is until I got current with the series. Now, I'm just bummed that it's about to be over...

Until recently, I had only seen the first two seasons of the show. Then I learned that all of seasons 1-5 (season 6 is current) is available on Hulu.com. For free. Hence my being Lost.

First, let me say, if you've never watched Lost, now's a good time to check it out.

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Since I've been watching lots of TV online, I know which types of online video ads I dislike least. Advertising is a necessary evil--we can agree on that. Some types of ads are less irritating than other--I suppose we can agree on that too. But it's frustrating to see the same TV ads run online.

Acknowledge the context. If I'm watching TV online, I probably do plenty of other things online too (like shop, read, research, etc.). ING Direct has a campaign running on Hulu that does just that.

Repackage TV ads? Sure, you could do that. But it's a waste. You get a chance to interact with people. So do it!

Interact with purpose. Letting your viewer play a game is a great idea. But TV trivia for an automobile manufacturer left me wondering why.

Options, Options, Etc. Give me a choice. Let me pick between long form or many short ads, or between interacting or just watching something.

Obviously, online ad formats are still being developed, especially for video. I know I'll keep watching. Please keep it interesting for me!