Methods and systems to increase user engagement with advertisements

An apparatus for increasing user engagement with advertising, for a user consuming streamed user-selected content, the apparatus comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• logic encoded in one or more non-transitory media for execution by the one or more processors and when executed operable to:
• select a sequence of previously produced advertisements, beginning with a first advertisement followed by a second advertisement, for the user;
• for each of the advertisements in the selected sequence, generate a first challenge relating to that advertisement, the generation occurring subsequent to and independent of the production of that advertisement;
• and
• at a break in streaming the selected content to a device through which the user is experiencing the user-selected content:
• stream the first advertisement to the device;
• after the first advertisement ends, present the corresponding first challenge to the user on the device;
• and
• respond to a correct answer provided by the user, within a first set time interval, to the first challenge by terminating the break and resuming streaming of the user-selected content to the device.