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Advertising Comes to DVR Owners
bill_kress writes "According to Reuters, television studios are finally trying to target DVR viewers with advertising. The effort, however, seems rather backwards — They are extending the same exact image across the entire 30 second commercial so that TIVO Viewers will be forced to view at least one frame. Wouldn't it be better to add value to the viewing experience instead?" From the article: "The advert for its new drama 'Brotherhood' will show a single image on the screen for the entire 30-second slot, and therefore retain its "sales message" when viewed even at the 12-times speeds enabled by Sky+ and other digital recorders, also known as personal video recorders, or PVRs. Advertisers have been racing to find ways to get messages through as higher numbers of consumers watch TV programs when they want using such recorders, often skipping the commercials."
Gee, that won't upset the standard viewing public at all... will it?
Maybe they could play an emergency test tone over the entire 30 seconds, just to get everyone's attention.
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
I like this idea. Sounds like a commercial-flagging algorithm could easily detect it and skip every single frame in the recording. Did I mention I have a mythbox?
Tivo: Go go gadget 30 second skip!
MythTV: Go go gadget commercial detection and skip!
Windows DVRs: Uh... Go go gadget DRM! Aw, crap!
Ryan Fenton
"Wouldn't it be better to add value to the viewing experience instead?" only if your primary concern was the viewer instead of advertising fees
+1 fashionably cynical
So, how long is it going to take for PVR makers to develop software that reads the AUDIO stream and returns you to your regularly scheduled programming when the waveform peaks go from clipped to normal? I don't want to jump 30 seconds forward. I want to skip the commercials.
I say "Bring it on!" If all advertisers did this, then it will be easier for my DVR to detect comercials so I don't have to see them at all!
You just have to wonder just how dense the network executives really are. I wonder when it will finally sink in that saturating your programming with advertising to the point that the viewing audience revolts is ultimately counter-productive. They should take it as a clue that if viewers are willing to spend several hundred dollars to avoid ads using specialized hardware, there is something seriously wrong with your marketing plan.
When all else fails, run.
GE did something infinetely more intelligent a few months ago.
The last second of their ad was a set of single frames with interesting information. To see what was there, you had to repeatedly watch the ad until you managed to hit pause at just the right time so you could single-step through the hidden content.
That way, (at least some) TiVo owners ended up spending 15 minutes on a 30-second ad. Now THAT's creative!!
If I see a good, or interesting looking add I will stop to watch it. A great example of this is the add with Abe Lincon and a monkey playing jump rope. You can't just wizz by Abe Lincon and a monkey playing jump rope, you have to see what it's all about. Turnes out the add was for sleeping pills.
If it's dead, you killed it.
Isn't this how it always is though? When Cable TV first arrived it was touted as having no commercials and then they came. We used to have the luxury of not watching commercials at the movie theatre because we paid to be there, now we have to watch the same trailer for the same bad tv show over and over again while we wait for the movie to start. The "no commercials" idea is IMHO a bait and switch maneuver that for some reason always works on consumers. The ridiculous number of commercials is the main reason I don't watch tv anymore. There are some shows I might like to see, but I'm not willing to sit through all the commercials to see them. Of course, it doesn't help that most of the shows are bad shows with excessively overpaid actors which brings us back to the insane amount of commercials, they have to pay for the talent, or lack thereof.
.....PVR's that skip 31 Seconds.
(I know your all gearing up to whine about how hard mythtv is to install,... then you probably havent tried Knoppmyth, or the Hyams Fantastic How-to )
This is just stupid. I consider it a brute force attack at DVR owners, however, I still might miss this commercial thanks to the hidden 30 sec skip feature of the TiVo. (While watching a show: SELECT PLAY SELECT 3 0 SELECT. Your skip 30 min button will now do 30s instead. Repeat whenever an update resets functionality.) While these adds might be reach more DVR owners, they are going to need the most entertaining audio script in the world or they are going to be COMPLETELY boring for average TV viewers.
There is a far more preferable category of commercials targetted at DVR owners: The ones that make you want to stop for them. Some commercials you merely stop for because they either interest you(car commercials when you are car shopping) are are simply well scripted and entertaining(Some of the recent Mac commercials). Then there was also a novel series of commercials that GE was running which had a series of text heavy images that were shown for only a few frames each near the end of the commercial. The point was to create a humorous Easter Egg for DVR owners who would be inclined to pause and advance frame by frame.
If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
Just make ads twelve times slower so they are shown with normal speed when fast-forwarding. (-:
Bah, I'll just keep myself full of beer so that I don't understand the visual even if I see it.
Budweiser
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Budweiser
KFG, Brought to you by -- Budweiser
that I watch my shows months after they are recorded.
I mean, I'd really hate to be suckered in by an advertisement that was actually relevant!
But, by watching everything months later I can be sure that any shows being advertised will have been shown long ago... and, like every other frikken commercial... of absolutely no use to me.
So, until I'm:
1) geriatric
2) female
3) senile
4) stupid
5) impotent
6) over weight
7) bored
8) unable to solve my own problems
9) unable to read
etc...
I think I'll just keep skipping commercials. Because, at best... they are a complete waste of my time.
--Phillip
Can you say BIRTH TAX
I pay an extra $10 a month to rent the DVR from Comcast. What do I have to do to not watch commercials? How much will it cost? Do I have to buy a 12-pack of Pepsi, 2 pairs of Levis, a Toyota Camry, and a pack of Charmin Toilet Tissue every month before the advertisers will leave me alone?
I'm paying money to not watch commercials. I'm not downloading pirated films or rogue recordings. What the hell is the deal?
If it takes moving pictures of a certain type to keep your kid happy, it's time to get them outside more and away from the babysitting box.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
Actually, they are smart enough to know they are watching a specific show... and that they aren't sitting there to have shit^H^H commercials stuffed into their head.
And, you can't always send the kids outside either.
There is only one of me... mom works too... and someone has to cook dinner.
I can't cook dinner and watch the kids at the same time.
And neither can you.
So, yeah. Sometimes they get to watch the tube. If you don't like it... tough.
They aren't your kids.
--Phillip
Can you say BIRTH TAX