My wife and I are into viewing television shows and movies on Hulu as of late. A good friend tipped us off, and we’re wondering if we even need cable at this point. Given Hulu and Netflix streams, plus decent online video content from CNN, most of our basics are covered – though more online sports coverage tops my streaming media wish list.

Hulu is a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. that offers free online streams of select TV shows and movies, old and new, from their massive catalogs with minimal commercial interruptions.

The limited interruptions is where Hulu really shines (it also has a clean and fairly well organized user interface, and the quantity and quality of content is good). Viewers watching a sitcom on Hulu will encounter about two to five minutes of commercials compared to about 16 minutes watching the same show on television. Viewers can also opt to watch a two-minute movie trailer before a show rather than endure a few ads during their desired program. In some instances you can even pick what kind of advertisements you want to sit through. Shorter clips, like Saturday Night Live skits, may have a brief brand logo and tagline skim across the bottom of the screen. It all seems acceptable to get free on-demand programming.

Hulu has been available for a little over a year and its early success is due to the free content model coupled with its simple, yet rather innovative approach to advertising. While it has drawn some comparisons to YouTube, its organization, search-ability, and opting for the long video format – full-length TV shows and movies as opposed to typical three-minute YouTube clips – has helped it obtain unique online stature.

I actually watch the commercials on Hulu rather than zone out. I know there won’t be many, so that’s an early win. And since I’m not being bombarded, I can actually recall some of the spots from BlackBerry, Nissan, and others that I’m seeing. Try accomplishing that on the tube and its hundreds of channels.

A recent BusinessWeek article notes that advertisers pay three times more to air their commercials on Hulu than on the networks. I think in time they’ll be happy with their investment and rewarded with measurable results. After all, they’re reaching many more open and receptive minds with Hulu’s less is more approach.