Paying More For Much Less: The New TV Commercial Strategy
from the 30-seconds-ain't-worth-what-it-used-to-be dept
As TV and ad execs fret about the fact that TV commercials aren't particular effective these days thanks, in part, to things like TiVo and YouTube, it seems that some are discovering there may be more value in giving consumers less. That is, advertisers are recognizing they can get a lot more bang for the buck by giving consumers more of what they want (the actual content) and less of what they don't (the intrusive ads). Philips is experimenting with sponsoring a few different shows, where part of the sponsorship means much more airtime for the shows, and fewer commercials (all from Philips, of course). Effectively, they're buying up the commercial airtime, and using a large portion of it to give back to the show. It's a strategy that makes some sense -- recognizing that giving people more of what they actually want makes sense. It also works well for the early adopters like Philips who get an extra bump from stories like this one about the experiment. However, what will be more interesting is whether or not it still works for them long term. It's certainly possible. By limiting an entire show's advertisers to a single company, that company is much more likely to get its branding message across, even with much less time. That, in turn, should be valuable to both the advertiser and the network (who should also end up with happier viewers not forced to skip around as much).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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Sounds a lot like the old days...
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Re: Sounds a lot like the old days...
I know, I know! We can take a round, rolly sort of thing, and attach it to this big, flat, sled sort of thing, and it'll let us move stuff around a lot more easily! We can call them "Rollies". Or "Easy rollers".
Wheee, this is kinda fun! Maybe we can incorporate "Whee" into the name... "rollwhee", or "rwheeolls".... "WHEELS!" Hey, I like that!
*sigh* What's that saying about everything old being new again?
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Re: Sounds a lot like the old days...
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If all the comercials were like Target's
On the other hand Nissan's Mark Horowitz should be permanently entombed in his damned Sentra.
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Re: If all the comercials were like Target's
I'm considering switching to satellite if they can guarantee I won't see more than 1 TW commercial in 2 hours of viewing. Time Warner tells me I'll pay more, enjoy less and have problems with support - but I might consider that a blessing if I just don't have to have my brain turned to mush by their damned commercials.
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Someone sponsor LOST for #%^& sake!
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Online Episodes
Personally, I think it was a much more effective way of advertising. Not to mention I also noticed a few commercials inside the show as well. But I like being able to watch a television show rather than have to sift through 2-3 minutes of commercials for every 5-7 minutes of actual content.
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Blinding Flash of the obvious...
Raise your hand if this wasn't obvious to you...
Everyone's hand is up? I thought so.
p.s. It's even worse on radio where the commercial breaks are substantially longer.
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Re: Blinding Flash of the obvious...
Re the other stuff -- Aside from the obvious 'harking back to Hallmark days' to solve advertisers issues -- can't we all just agree that advertising is a normal everyday part of our very capitalist lives? What would you do if you were running NBC? Not run ads?
If people want PURE entertainment - go to a play, or a movie or a concert. (Come to think of it Broadway is running live skits - ads - before shows now.) I know -- read a *book* by candlelight.
-claudy
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BTW...Considering that advertisers actually purchase time to advertise on Dancing with the Stars, Deal or No Deal and Mom Swap is a good indication that we are far from an ideal solution.
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Agreed. The car should be encased in concrete, with Horowitz inside. I hate those ads.
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Short Commercials
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Flip side again
To pick an extreme example: If WalMart was the sole corporate sponsor of 20/20, what do you think the chances would be of 20/20 taking a serious look into WalMart's hiring practices, suppliers, health care policies, and so on?
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Thank goodness for the BBC
4 main TV channels (+ 2 kids channels, news channel, politics channel)
5 main radio stations (+ several digital only specialist channels + dozens of local stations around the UK)
NO ADVERTISING
Granted, it costs a couple of hundred of your UK dollars per household per year but just think about it....
NO ADVERTISING AT ALL
And quality programmes and relatively unbiased news.
Well worth it, I say.
It has been this way for more than 50 years but the end is nigh as commercial interests lobby against this arrangement.
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Re: Thank goodness for the BBC
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Re: Thank goodness for the BBC
dave
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i hate those popup things during the shows
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More of less
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pure entertainment
Are you kidding me? I can't go to the movies anymore without being bombarded for 15 minutes with ads! THat's not including the ads they flash on the screen while the lights are still on and everyone's filing into the theater. Then there's the previews after that! You'd think with the 10 dollar ticket i bought they could afford to not annoy that crap out of us with more ads.
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Comcercials Arn't So Bad
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As far as news programs, the sponsorships should be based on a show by show basis, not a long term contract. A single longterm sponsor could and would influence the bias of the news broadcast.
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I started muting them a long time ago. (From a marketing standpoint I should still know what it's about without hearing it... not always.) I started timing them not too long ago so that I'd know when to turn the sound back on (because they're doing all kinds of things to fool you into thinking the show is going to start again like station i.d.'s) and it's approx 6 mins of commercials and 7 to 9 mins of show. And that's not just TBS.
"We interrupt these commercials for a program break."
You guys that are getting 2 mins of commercials? Way to go. Count yourself lucky. We don't just get your titilating crap, we get a load of ours, too.
If I give up any favorites they will wind up on DVD in a "whole season" pack. But... they're loaded with crap at the beginning and the DVD programmers are stopping our ability to skip over them. I guess I resent being forced to watch them.
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Re: by Anonymous Coward
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So there is hope?
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see text
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