DVR Users Aren't Costing Ad Revenue -- Just Making It More Efficient
from the not-necessarily dept
Research firms seem to really enjoy claiming that some new technology or service will "cost" an industry some amount of money -- even if that's not really the best way to look at it. Remember all the fear about how much Craigslist was "costing" newspapers? In that situation it wasn't Craigslist costing the newspapers anything -- it was those newspapers' inability to adapt to the changing marketplace. Blaming Craigslist is a way to take responsibility off the newspapers. It's similar in the entertainment industry, with the movie industry blaming piracy for costing it some amount that it's clear they would never have received from revenue. The latest, though, is in the DVR space. A research firm is claiming that all those people who skip commercials on their DVR may be costing TV firms about $8 billion. Again, that's backwards. It's not the DVRs or the users costing the industry, but the industry's inability to change with the times. Already, we're seeing many creative attempts to deal with commercial skippers. What will happen over time is that, as certain methods are found to work, more TV ad dollars will shift to the methods that work, and the "loss" balances out. To assume that commercial skipping costs the industry money is ignoring the fact that most of that money is probably wasted right now. A large part of commercial advertising isn't very effective -- with most TV viewers not caring about those ads. What commercial skipping is doing is helping to highlight for the industry how to make sure their advertising efforts are more effective. If they want to look on that as "costing" them revenue, then that's their own loss.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Woot 1st
I agree, it does not "cost" them anything, yet there it is.
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VCRs
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Re: VCRs
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Oh... I don't know about that
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Re: Oh... I don't know about that
It's simply because when someone is fastforwarding past an ad they actually pay attention to the visual part of the commercial. When they are forced to watch an ad they tend to change the channel or go and make themselves a sandwhich. So Tivo/DVR is costing the ad industry nothing and actually making the ads more effective.
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Unfortunately, tho, media moguls don't seem to care for basic economics and sociological theory. They are in a different line of education, after all.
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Re: "media moguls ... are ... different"
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Re: Re: "media moguls ... are ... different"
Granted those things are a lot easier to do when you already have the money, and its also easier to maintain once you are on top. However, if they don't keep on top of what they are doing, either by improving or just holding on and fending off competition with a stick, then they will eventually be replaced with the next person ready to solve or exploit.
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who's costing whom?
Now that, in my mind, is theft.
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They need to realise, on the whole we hate their crappy ads..they need to adapt and deal with it.
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Let skip
1. Mute button.
2. Change channel, go back in 2/3 minutes.
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I also have absolutely no idea what's going on in the world. Not that I care to begin with, but it makes for awkward moments when your friends are well advised on current events and products and you're just finding out about something that's been advertised for months.
The main things I DO care about that I miss out on are movies and upcoming new TV shows I might be interested in. But if it doesn't grab my attention right away anyway, screw it. I'm waiting until those morons decide to put commercial tickers at the bottom of the screen or even worse and more shameless product placement... like Techdirt Online! Post comments to pertinent articles for everyone to read!
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Scrolling Ads IN shows
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Attention all advertisers. Watch 30+ hours of beer, videogame, and internet commercials and emulate.
And someone PLEASE put a stop to the sh** of all sh** commercials like the Taco Bell ads or the Vonage commercials who fail miserably at trying to be funny with a stupid random thing going on in the background. Those are more insulting than simplistic commercials in themselves.
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SLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWW THEEMMMM DOOOOOOOOWWWWWNNNNN
they wouldn't even need to have music or voice, just text and pictures. but I guess they would only be able to play one of these Tivo Ready commercials per break since it only takes a few seconds to get back to the show.
Sure it will be annoying for non Tivo users,(...5 mins later"MY GOD THIS COMMERCIAL IS LONG, I don't even remember what it's about") but who cares, get with the times bra!
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Opportunity, not threat
As a broadcast medium, I expect adverts make very little impact overall. Now, to find new ways to reach consumers, we may get a better model where adverts are better matched to those who are receptive, and ignores those who ignore it.
In other words, consumers are giving loads of feedback to advertisers on what grabs them, and what doesn't.
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The best commercial
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Dedicated Channels Anyone?
The point a lot of people are missing here is that if your product is so damn good you wouldn't need to advertise it (initially sure), people would be scrambling to get one/it/a box of...Only the new products and the crappy ones rely heavily on commercial advertising.
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JUST A NEW WAY OF SKIPPING COMMERCIALS
PS NOT YELLING IT'S AN ARCHITECTURE THING.
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Then get a new Architecture
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don't forget what we learned about commercial-skip
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30-second skip
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What's next, a channel
What's next, stations "locking" me onto their channel so I can't watch two minutes of a Seinfeld rerun while they push the latest must-have product that's sure to make my life better?
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Re: What's next, a channel
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Right on the Mark!
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Right on the Mark!
Glad to see someone else gets it!
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What the hell
I don't have a DVR and I really don't have a need for a DVR. I don't watch commercials as it is. I usually change the channel. If I do leave the commercial on it's because I'm at my computer basically using the TV as background noise. Why should I be forced to watch the Law Office or Burnetti PA personal injury attorney, commercial? Honestly if every show was prefaced with a quick, "this eppisode is brought to you by Jack Mehoff's tires," (similar to PBS) I might actually watch more TV and not skip commercials.
I'm not anti commercial. I have no problem getting free TV because advertiser are willing to pay for the show by placing ads throughout. I am anti anyone telling me, "No, you have to watch these commercials." Maybe if manufacturers made better products, maybe if advertisers made entertaining commercials, then just maybe, this would all be a moot point. Believe me, I didn't hear about TiVo from a commercial. Everyone I know that actually owns a TiVo raves about them. It's a good product and the word spread about it.
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I Like commercials...
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Bring Back BlipVerts!
BlipVerts..
So Spontanous Explosions occur in a percentage of viewers, it's all about the Benji's...
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RE I Like commercials
I can't skip ads with my DVR, only fast forward through them. The only time I stop on an ad if it looks humerous or is entertaining.
Shocker: Entertaining commercial actually get people to watch them instead of vapid annoying advertising.
Advertisers should never assume that their ads are effective, period. Even before DVR times, people would either mute the channel, or get up, or even turn off the TV for a few minutes. Mostly, people simply channel surfed, skipping commercials by watching 2 minutes of some other program. The BIG fact is there was never a guarantee that advertising on television was ever that effective, now there is just an easy scapegoat to blame for lack of advertising effectiveness. Because they can claim that DVR's explicitly allow viewers to skip commercials, then they MUST be blaimed for lack of efficiency.
These claims are made by rich ad executives who are loosing just enough money to prevent them from upgrading their 2005 Porche to a 2006 model. I.e. the industry CLAIMS they lose BILLIONS, but how many BILLIONS do they make in the first place!
I can't feel sorry for someone loosing 5-10% of a multi-BILLION dollar market.
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Advertisers
"You know what Bill's doing now, he's going for the righteous indignation dollar, that's a big dollar, a lot of people are feeling that indignation, we've done research, huge market. He's doing a good thing." Godammit, I'm not doing that, you scumbags, quit putting a godamn dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet!"
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Skipping commercials an ongoing thing.
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The only thing constant is change...
I skip over commercials, but I find myself stopping to review interesting and entertaining ones. More then once I have heard, "Wait, I like the commercial!" from one of my children. In my opinion, the advent of DVRs will force more creative ad placements, as well as, forcing media advertisers to get more creative to make interesting and flowing advertisements.
For example, the way that Paul Harvey (radio personality) flows between stories and advertisement spots almost seamlessly. The ad is just another article, till you recognize it as an ad.
As for those that denigrate the advertisements and the advertisers, and claim your ultimate right to skip and ignore the commercials, and wish they would just shrivel up and die, you have little understanding about where the money for the shows you are watching come from. No advertisers, means no high-paid actors, directors, and script writers. Which would ultimately leave us with shows that look like they come from a basement in Aurora, Illinois.
After all, have you seen some of the videos available from videos.google.com. A great technology to be sure, and a wonderful way for the collective creative genius to be presented to the world. But really, it will be a while before the open market produces consistently entertaining shows with depth, character, production quality, and significant length. Frankly, I like my CSI, and don't want to pay to see each episode. So Vive l'advertisers.
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Excellent!
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so if they try and kill tivo
because I haven't unwillingly listened to an add since we got a TV with a remote in 1992.
THOSE dollars were certainly wasted.
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Next target will be....
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