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Targeted Advertising Coming To Cable TV
The New York Times reports that Cablevision Systems is testing a new project in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and some areas of New Jersey to bring targeted advertising to television audiences. "The technology requires no hardware or installation in a subscriber's home, so viewers may not realize they are seeing ads different from a neighbor's. But during the same show, a 50-something male may see an ad for, say, high-end speakers from Best Buy, while his neighbors with children may see one for a Best Buy video game." The test deployment includes 500,000 households, and separates viewers by demographic data from Experian. "Experian has data on individuals that it collects through public records, registries and other sources. It matches the name and address of the subscriber to what it knows about them, and assigns demographic characteristics to households. (The match is a blind one: advertisers do not know what name and address they are advertising to, Cablevision executives said.)"
If they can do that then they can take off the ads for phone sex when I complain! I've been watching F1 GPs in Australia at 11pm and had 6 of them in a row.
A little weird, but I'm not really alarmed that this is being used. It (for better or worse) is public data - Taking advantage of it to bore me as little as possible with ads seems perfectly appropriate. Frankly, if I have to watch ads, I'd rather see ads for computer equipment and stuff than for My Little Pony Playhouse...
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Married a chick from Eastern Europe, who is .. cough, 19 years younger than myself. Will we get Viagra or Britney Spears Perfume advertising?
Oh, the suspense!
You see my ads, I see yours?
Cool... No more tampon commercials at my house...
So they'll be directing the ads for lovers of painfully loud music to 50-year-olds, while the gaming ads will go to children despite the average gamer being 35. May I suggest a few more surveys before they roll out their new tech?
The time I vegged out in front of the TV watching reruns of Astro Boy and Speed Racer, and all the ads seemed to be for "Hair Club for Men", Milwaukee's Best, and debt consolidation services.
...for the Best Buy video game. I'm pre-ordering that bad-boy!
They might have a tough time finding product placement for this household, since the account's in my grandfather's name, and he died in 2003. Maybe some ads for psychics?
Haida Manga
Slowly and inexorably, the media companies push us away.
That we do a DMCA on people's personal information.
Remove the concept of 'public records' and make it all PRIVATE.
If Experian wants to collect personal information on you, they should have to pay a fee to you and agree to a standard distribution restriction agreement that makes them come to you for permission to distribute the data elsewhere.
Now of course credit card companies have to ask and pay you for the right to get that information but they can also charge higher fees, too.
Violations bring the same penalties as with "pirating" a mp3.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
I'm wondering, if Grandma wants to buy a new video game for little Bobby, how is she going to know about any sales in her area? All she's going to get on her TV is commercials for arthritis rub, denture cream, cat food and the like.
On a related subject, I've also wondered why they target ads to kids anyway. They can't drive, don't have much money and from my experience if I whined and pleaded with my dad to buy me something I saw on TV I generally got sent to my room.
Beta sux! Join the Slashcott! http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4760465&cid=46173047
Unless cable has infinity bandwidth or they place insertion device at each home for each TV, this will not work.
Now it you pay them for their box, then they have an insertion device in your home.
Why would you pay them for the right to sell you to an advertiser? Why are you not getting your TV for free then instead of rising rates?
Air fresheners, perhaps?
The only speakers I saw at Best Buy were low-end crap. I would like to see Ms. Clifford's definition of "high-end".
Why should I watch commercials for tampons, tinned soup, and shampoo? Show me Apple ads, Best Buy ads, trailers to movies I might like, etc.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Those hoveround commercials every 30 minutes during the night are such a pain in the butt... I'm not going to buy one for another 30 years so it's waisted advertising. and the commercials suck! So every time one comes on I turn the channel!! And most of the time don't go back to the original channel for hours if not days, so the channel looses out as the "commercial" ran me away. I would like to see ads about crap im interested in... So who knows this might be a good thing?
Wine-Reviews Windows Applications and Games on Linux and Mac
Best Buy and their sister store Magnolia does not sell High End speakers. That's fucked up, don't fool us! Low end Definitive technology and crappy low end Martin Logan don't count as high end in my book. That's like saying Receivers are the best! Fuck off!
They should do this with television so I'm not paying for 3 fucking sports channels, Cartoon Network, 2 Disney channels, 2 VH1s, 2 MTVs, TLC, and the Weather Channel.
It's bad enough we get ad's on each page of the guide now they want to push more ad on us how about MORE HD wait DIRECT TV HAS MORE HD better guide with mush less ad's and looks good on a HD TV.
Anyone remember that Futurama episode where they beamed the commercial into Fry's dream?
The musings of just another geek and his junk.
Finally no ads with sports, douches,beer,tampons,cereal,toys, insert new pill with horrible side effects here, Depends, advice to see my physician if erection lasts more than 4 hours, pamprin, reducing the effects of PMS, domain registration,...
I could go on all day. the list of things to advertise to me is 1000x shorter than the ads I currently see. In fact I record almost everything that is episodic and skip commercials.
Now women in underwear jumping on trampolines selling the latest FPS game or RPG I might watch that. I really don't have much use for advertising in general.
Comcrap is losing me quickly the incredible lack of anything worthwhile being on TV makes the amount I pay to have the DVR and HDTV ridiculous. I do have a few series I watch and they are HD though.
Inane Comments are Generously Disregarded
Today, our advertising is so full of lies and deceptions, only if they would tell the truth, then the consumer would be able to choose what they need and not what the advertiser wants the to want and buy.
Our brains can not tell the difference between fact and fiction. It's our higher cognitive abilities that will reason in hope to find the fact. Advertisements don't give the higher functions a chance to work, subsequently and despite the common knowledge that the ads are just ads, in the long term, we end up thinking what they want us to think.
Test your self, next time you are in the grocery store, review what you pick and ask yourself why one brand vs the other, then compare ingredients, and see if you have made the better choice. I have talked to many and found that they just picked things that they though were good. I urge you to read the following articles on false memories and see how easy it is to manipulate ones thoughts even memories:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/06/010612065657.htm
http://www.rense.com/general11/TAWT.HTM
We have no Cable programing of any kind in our home, our time is ours. We rent movies, talk about thing in life, inter act with our neighbors and read more. It took a year after we cut the cable to realize that we never really benefited from watching general TV programing. Just wasting time, the time that was supposed to compose our lives, hence wasting our lives.
Good luck.
Wife - "Wow - the commercials have changed for the worse, honey... Why do we keep getting ads for pay-per-view porn? I hope the neighbors are seeing this 'cause I'm going to complain to the TV stations and I hope they do too."
Husband - "Ummm, yeah. I don't know why... these ads are coming. Don't call anyone, though. I'll take care of it..."
And what happens when someone hacks into their system and replaces ads for fox news with 2 girls, one cup?
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
The content of the ads could be a little TOO revealing about people. Imagine this conversation after the Super Bowl party:
"Did you notice that the Smiths had a lot of ads for bankruptcy lawyers? I wonder what's going on with them..."
It's not an invasion of privacy, but it is a subversion of privacy.
I'm glad I have TiVo. Rarely see commercials at all, and then it's mostly the tail-end of the one at the end of the break, before the program starts again. Yay TiVo! :)
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
I just want to know how to get targeted by Lesbian Orange Juice Commercials and nothing else!
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/898236/the_lesbian_orange_juice_commercial/
What is the purpose of even having Cable Television anymore? I mean, seriously -
1. Cable networks are crap-factories. A couple of the movie networks put out some enjoyable series (ie, Dexter or the Sopranos), but you can easily enjoy those on Netflix for the same cost as one or two of those premium channels, with a ton more flexibility on what you want to watch.
2. Service. Cable television is one of the worst service industries in the world. Their ridiculously wide "service windows" to come visit you when there is a problem. Their ridiculously uneducated call support centers. Their monopolistic regional control allows them to really not care one way or another if a customer is happy.
3. Online content - Between Hulu and Netflix, I am able to watch anything I have any interest in watching, when I want to watch it - with minimal commercial interruption. I especially love Hulu's new "2-minute opener ad" that they let you watch, then you get your whole 1-hour episode without interruption.
So... remind me again why anyone would pay for cable television when it's all available for less money, less hassle, and fewer commercials?
this could also be useful for sending targetted streams of propaganda out to people's houses. If the ads are targetted, the programs themselves could be as well.
Hopefully they have "finds Subway repulsive" on file for me.
-- I prefer the term "karma escort."
1. Free TV with commercials
2. Promise of pay TV without commercials
3. Pay TV with commercials
4. Pay TV with commercials and shopping channels
5. Pay TV with targeted commercials and shopping channels
6. Pay TV where they remove your eyes and jab probes directly into your brain so they can harvest your inner most thoughts for a profit
This is not to say that CV wouldn't like to provide targeted advertising, but they don't serve the area described in the story - and looking at their systems [from the inside] they don't have the expertise to implement such a system.
in the long term, we end up thinking what they want us to think.
Think Different (TM)
These guys have no decency for the consumer. When we had a case of mistaken identity and a supposed debt on our credit card, these guys were the hardest to deal with. Transunion/Equifax rock, but we had to send so many overnight mail packages to Experian and it took them over 6 months to resolve our case and clear the fraudulent charges off of our account. We had to spend over $100 out of pocket to resolve $90 worth of fraudulent debt. Also when we do our fraud reports every 90 days, if we use a different credit company (Transunion/Equifax) to file the fraud report, Experian usually rejects it, so we have to file the report with them directly. Equifax is my favorite, I am neutral on Transunion. At least they will listen to the consumer. I am not at all surprised that Experian would stoop this low and provide consumer credit information to commercial corporations, and it disgusts me. What is next? Are they going to monitor our internet usage and mail us advertisements towards what we browse? (which is 90% porn and 10% slashdot for most of us).
That kinda reminds me of gametrailers.com and rottentomatoes.com. They let you see movie trailers, which are essentially ads, but most of the time through another ad to see the trailer. While targeted ads are lessing boring than un-targeted ones, I'd hate for marketers to use this as justification for showing more ads.
Uhhh... sattelite and cable have the same number of commercials. Otherise their schedules would start getting out of sync pretty quick.
They could have an ad pop up on my television with my name, address, and a high resolution picture of my dick on it, and I'd still hit the mute button or flip to another channel for the next 60 seconds.
The moment you get a girl living with you, all your ads are going to be for feminine hygiene products. On the other hand, this being slashdot, it is better then the ads we are used to, female depence ads for out mothers.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I posted this in another thread. It is a decent solution to avoid all this, primarily by avoiding the "box". Here are the results he got from making and using this antenna.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1128309&cid=26860051
Enjoy.
""It's really not that tough to make. You could make one yourself just as easily in an hour or two. Construction is as follows:
Make eight Vs from 16" lengths of coat hanger, with stripped insulation at the point(EDIT: Guess he means the plastic coated coathangers). The mouths should open about 3.25".
On a 33" or longer stick, about 2" wide and ½" thick, measure off 8" increments on both sides of the ruler. At each of these marks use a wood screw and washer to hold down a V. It should look like four cats stacked head on head when the stick is upright. These V's, now lying flat, should be pulled forward about 20-35. Just pull on one wire at a time to reduce strain on the screw.
Next the Vs need connected with two more coat hangers. Each of these hangers is bowed, connecting to the two center Vs on one side, and the two end Vs of the opposite side. Insulation needs removed at all eight woodscrew junctions, but must be intact where the wires cross over each other between the end and center bows.
Finally, at the center of these two bows (which should be the width of a ruler apart), also strip insulation, insert two additional screws, and attach a UHF-VHF transformer. This is $2 radio shack item which allows one to hook a 300 ohm spade-lug antenna to 75ohm threaded-tube coax cable. The ideal one should be small tube with male threads at one end, and the two spades at the other end which you will screw to the antenna.
Installation. Hook a 75ohm coax cable between the antenna and the 75ohm air-antenna connector of your tuner. A brass hook in one end of the stick, and another in the ceiling is a convenient method of installation. Mounting it to a pole on the roof would provide even better reception, but then would be difficult to aim if not all your TV stations come from the same direction. Here they all come from Mount Wilson which is 41 East of North from me. Directions of your stations from your zip code and signal strengths can be found at tvfool.com. The cat faces aim at the stations. I pick up all stations with a signal strength of 41 Db or more (the ones shaded in green)."
I guess he used a cool piece of driftwood for structure.
Hope this helps."
The geek discovers the Fountain of Youth. Or maybe not.
I'm serious. WTF?
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
Stop the interstitials and I'll start watching TV again.
Those suckers are evil.
It depends where you live. For example I hear that in Florida you might be the prime target for political ads.
Using the technology the animation houses and gaming industry already has, the demographic data available, and the fact that your cable company knows your name --
You can get to that creepy place where the talking head on tv turns and talks directly to you by name, then tells you (based on your debit card use at the shopping center) that your brand of anti-itch cream isn't as good as the one they're advertising -- and with that herpes medicine you're taking you should also try their new herbal product...
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
...it seems like a good idea, to raise the possibility that the ad might be for something you care about.
Isn't that one reason why Google AdSense is considered less obnoxious than other advertising systems?
Presumably you could DVR your way past these like you do with commercials now anyways.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
I'm just gonna Tivo the show and fast forward through the commercials anyway.
but they had better figure out how to tell me the time a show starts IN MY TIME ZONE before they decide that I need more pasta in my diet.
They can target me all they want, I'm still not going to actually watch the commercials, I call commercial breaks "internet breaks", and for recorded shows I can manually skip past anyway.
I had some people staying with me about 15 years ago and one of them must have called one of those free 'psychic' lines because a month later (after they had moved into their new house) I got a call from one of these people trying to get me to sign up for something and I hung up on them. Their supervisor called me right back and started to argue with me when I told him I hadn't called the number, and I told them, well, if you were really psychic you'd know that already!
What if the subscription owner isn't watching, but his wife, his children, or someone else?
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
Basically, forget television. It is an expensive waste of time. Go out and have fun. Take your daughter out to the park. Get out and enjo a nice sunny day, like we had today where I live. The hell with television. Its time has passed.
Similar to the upcoming US election results
1985: "In Soviet Union, TV Watches You" was the punchline to a joke about the USSR.
2009: "In Soviet Union, TV Watches You" is the punchline to a joke about the USSA.
Won't this be difficult?
Currently they can't seem to prevent an "Enhanged Water" commercial during a show which is slamming enhanced water. Nor can they prevent an "Obama coin" commercial during a show which was essentially calling it a scam.
Does this mean it'd be 24/7 porn? You watch porn and receive ads of porn. Porn Porn Porn Porn Po.....*goes into seizure*
Given that they would be targeting households instead of people, could this also be considered a form of discrimination?
I'm only halfway serious.
That is disgusting. It would be time to get rid of the TV altogether if we had kids. We boycott anything we consider inappropriately advertised or invasive.
Hmmm, it's no wonder that we don't have more bandwidth on Cable ISP's vs other countries. All the bandwidth has been held back to send targeted ads!
Umm. Aren't we discussing cable TV service here? How is your neighbour watching Cable 4 going to get a different ad than you? I think the most the targetted ads will be able to do is to be tuned to neighbourhood demographics -- unless you are watching cable-on-demand, anyway.
What if, instead of telling these companies what we'd *like* to see, we tell them what we *don't* like. Sure it will be a longer list, but its absolutely less revealing in terms of being able to profile people.
Lots of ads for "Ghost Hunters"!
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.