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82% of Kids in 'Netflix Only' Homes Have No Idea What Commercials Are (exstreamist.com)
Two anonymous readers share a report: We decided to survey parents of young children (below 10 years old) to see how many kids in "Netflix only" homes knew what commercials are, compared to those homes who watch regular television. We surveyed 100 parents (50 Netflix-only homes, 50 normal television homes), here were their responses: 82% of kids in Netflix only homes don't know what commercials are. 38% of kids in regular television homes don't know what commercials are.
I haven't forgotten commercials entirely, but I've forgotten what they are like, and they are super annoying. Last time I stayed in a hotel, I flipped on TV and tried to watch a show -- I didn't make it past the first half of the show before I flipped off the TV and went to my laptop to watch Netflix because I couldn't stand the ads.
YouTube videos are smothered in ads and kids experience them all the time. Netflix shows are also rife with subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) product placements. Live action shows feature massive luxury homes, Macbooks everywhere, fancy cars and shiny mobile phones. All that stuff acts to normalize expectations. It is brilliant and very effective marketing.
What? Cable TV was almost never "commercial free" except for maybe 5 minutes at the dawn of the cable channel industry.
The "premium" Cable TV channels (HBO, Cinemax, etc.) were indeed commercial free for some time, at least in the market where my family was served (SouthernCalifornia). That was one of the major draws of watching movies on Cable versus broadcast TV. I don't remember how long it took for commercials to appear, but (according to my infallible memory), it seemed like a number of years.
38% of kids in regular television homes don't know what commercials are
. I am sure these kids will grow up and learn what a commercial is, but considering the amount of commercial on American TV it is hard to believe that they have not been heavily exposed to those.
In the 1980's Cable was free of commercials!! You paid for the service and they gave you no commercials in return for your money.. Then endless unregulated greed came to town.. Yes folks! You now get 1000's of channels (of duplicates). I wonder if people caught up with this trick?... On the other hand: If you offered 40 commercial free channels (Of your choice.), it would be plenty for $20.00 bucks a month. Save your bandwidth for cable games, for people who want to pay extra!!
The premium TV channels are still commercial free (except for some between-program ads for other shows/movies on the same channel; which are primarily used to fluff out movie times so they start/end at roundish numbers.)
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