The more fractured the media landscape gets, the more the concept of engagement seems to become a buzzword. At Hulu, which still pales in comparison to rival YouTube in terms of traffic, engagement seems to be at an all-time high.

Hulu users spent an average of 256 minutes in August watching online video on the site. That's seen as a serious commitment to watching long-form video online, but it's also a dramatic improvement over the previous month's average of 169 minutes.

Robert D'Asaro, a media buyer for OMD, told BusinessWeek that Hulu seems to have broken through on the engagement front, especially compared to YouTube where users are "bouncing from clip to clip."  

Hulu has been coming on strong of late. Earlier this week, it announced plans to begin categorizing its content, which now includes nearly 1,000 titles from more than 100 producers. The company is also rolling out a feature that lets users pick their own ads.