Free web TV is a hit. Go figure.

Hey! This video-on-the-internet thing just might be a good idea. That's the word from Disney this morning, except in a much more dignified manner. The company is declaring its free web video trial a success... and with good reason. During the first month of the trial, Disney reports that more than 11 million people watched free ABC programming (Lost, Alias, Desperate Housewives, Commander in Chief) on its website. And, an exit survey of users shows some astonishing news: 87 percent of respondents said they could remember which advertisements preceded the program they viewed. Compare that to the typical ad recall of 40 percent for television viewers. Wowza. You web users are smart cookies.

Disney is re-tooling the media site and will launch version 2.0 this fall, for which it should have no trouble getting advertising.