Coming Up After The Break: A Test To Make Sure You're Paying Attention
from the good-luck-with-that dept
Advertisers are clearly growing disillusioned with that old standby, the 30-second TV spot. This was clear in the fall "upfronts", where the networks sell off their advertising for the upcoming season, and marketers held back money to spend on new-media ads, while those that are buying are demanding lower rates because they believe DVR users are skipping their ads. That's part of the bigger problem with TV commercials: it's difficult to get an accurate handle on how many people actually watch them and pay attention to the messages, whereas with online ads, it's much easier to track viewers' behavior. Advertisers are demanding a bit more accountability, so Nielsen recently said it would begin counting how many people actually watch ads, not just the shows around them. Now, Toyota's signed a deal with NBC where the broadcaster not only promises to deliver minimum numbers of viewers, but also that those viewers are paying attention. NBC will use "audience engagement" data to show Toyota that people are actually taking its ads to heart, and if they don't meet certain thresholds, they'll give the company free ad space. This seems more like a desperation ploy than anything, since it doesn't appear that NBC is doing anything to work with advertisers like Toyota to make their advertising more compelling, so people might actually want to watch it, instead of just grabbing those viewers without DVRs or who can't be bothered to flip the channel during breaks. Promising viewers will pay attention doesn't address viewers' changing habits and behavior; without evolving how they approach advertising, NBC could have a hard time hitting those metrics.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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Its true
There just is not the same response from TV advertising as there used to be.
Heh- if were lucky this will mean fewer commercials and weaker TV networks. Its a win-win!
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Re: Its true
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It Seems To Me
B) It's easier to distribute online
C) There don't have to be middle-men (local affiliates) online
So, why aren't the networks just moving their programming online? They're afraid of "theft"? The commercials are embedded in the middle of the damn show. Who wants to take time to pull them out?
And, as has been pointed out here continuously, it's not "free" that people care about - it's convenient. So, if I have a choice of going to my BitTorrent network of choice to track down a "commercial free version" or, I can just go to cbs.com and download for free a version with commercials - well, I would probably go to CBS.
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Instead of showing us a car lazily making it's way through the country side, how about having some of the actors present the products. Make every single commercial different because it's going to be taped at the same time as the show was. Have fun with it! And I gurantee people will pay more attention. And if you restrict my DVR... there's always Myth.
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This is ridiculous
What has infuriated me recently is the extending of commercials on TNT's "hot" new shows, The Closer and Saved, so that 30 seconds of the commercial actually overlays the show. Sometimes it isn't timed right, and you actually see the show start and then be replaced by yet another 30-second commercial. You are then returned to the show where the characters are in the middle of a conversation you never hear the beginning of. I don't know if it is TNT or my cable provider causing this, but to say it's self-defeating for both the advertiser and the network is an understatement.
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Re: This is ridiculous
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Product placement (embedded ads)
And there's the Coca-Cola cups in front of Simon, Paula, and Randy on Idol, the Toyota Tundras driven by the contestants on Treasure Hunter, and I'm sure that list can go on and on, as well.
TV ads aren't dead, they're just getting sneakier. So, why not just take out the regular ads now, and fill our shows with ads we don't even realize we're watching.
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Re:
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Overlayed ads
and on another note:wasnt cable tv (pay tv) supposed to give you channels with much less advertising being as your paying for the signal?
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Re: It Seems To Me
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Numbers
US Population: 295.73 million
99 million households have a TV
Average household size: 2.5 people
Thus- 84% population watches TV
Number of DVRs in US: ~9 million (guestimate)
Number of households with a DVR: 9%
Number people watching TV with a DVR: 66 million or
22.3% of population.
Thus 61.5% of US population don't watch using a DVR, or just don't watch period.
My gut feeling is that the number of DVRs is fewer. In any case, the problem (with viewers skipping comercials) is only with about 9% or less of the TV viewing public.
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Lost even found a way to do a little of it. Towards the end of the season there was some comment made about Starbucks. It was totally out of place. However, I love Starbucks, and I ended up going down for a Frap after the show.. hahaha. Hey, at least I recognized the product placement. Imagine how many people bought starbucks and didn't even think about what planted the seed....
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Re:
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random
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Commercials on TV (Commercialvision)
HR
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How not to gain customers!
I am personally SICK and TIRED of turning UP the TV to be able to hear the show only to have half the frelling commercials SCREAMING at me.
You think Tivoing over the commercials is bad? The result of literally yelling at your potential customers is MUCH worse!
First, I have to hurry and mute the message, then I write down the name of the offending product or service because I now have a personal policy of NEVER buying a product or service that has yelled at me.
So, there you go It doesn't matter if you call it "companding" or "dynamic range stuffing" or "sound optimization" or whatever, it turns it into an ANTI- commercial.
I hope everyone else will adopt this policy. Tell all your friends!
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Online Shows
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I wonder how long it will take for them to realize that the screaming commercials are HURTING sales???
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Re: yelling
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throw your TV away.
Unfortunately for the networks,a growing matjority of the people who are still watching TV are those in their 50's and older -- not the coveted 18-34 demographic that the networks aim their shows toward. And where are the 18-34 year olds? Spending their time on the Internet, of course. No wonder MySpace is number one in online traffic.
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