Hulu’s Alien Plot Is Now Up For An… Emmy Award?

It's not often that we hear about consumer web startups getting their own TV spots, much less during the Super Bowl — that's the sort of craziness that was reserved for the heady 90's, back before the (first) bubble burst. But that's exactly what Hulu did this year when it ran a spot during Super Bowl XLIII, introducing the masses to the online video site's plot for world domination (headed by Alec Baldwin, of course). The ad was certainly effective — Hulu saw a massive traffic jump and released a series of followup ads featuring celebrities including Seth MacFarlane and Dennis Leary . Apparently the general public wasn't alone in liking the ad. Hulu has just been nominated for an Emmy Award in the category "Outstanding Commercial" — a feat that few other consumer websites have ever accomplished (I believe the only other startup to get a nod was Snap.com in 1999, when that site was home to a search engine).