Advertising Comes to DVR Owners 294
bill_kress writes "According to Reuters, television studios are finally trying to target DVR viewers with advertising. The effort, however, seems rather backwards — They are extending the same exact image across the entire 30 second commercial so that TIVO Viewers will be forced to view at least one frame. Wouldn't it be better to add value to the viewing experience instead?" From the article: "The advert for its new drama 'Brotherhood' will show a single image on the screen for the entire 30-second slot, and therefore retain its "sales message" when viewed even at the 12-times speeds enabled by Sky+ and other digital recorders, also known as personal video recorders, or PVRs. Advertisers have been racing to find ways to get messages through as higher numbers of consumers watch TV programs when they want using such recorders, often skipping the commercials."
Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe they could play an emergency test tone over the entire 30 seconds, just to get everyone's attention.
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No adaware or spybotS&D is going to scrub those things. There is no escaping them. What do we do?
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Re:Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
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No, no... the answer is obvious: apply directly to the forehead.
(I also recommend tagging this story with applydirectlytotheforehead.)
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Hmmm. Go read a book?
I think it is amusing that people seem to think that they have to watch TV for some reason. Movies, popular music, and TV are so ingrained in our culture that it doesn't seem to occur to people that you can in fact entertain yourself without them.
Learn to play an instrument- that will keep you happily entertained for the rest of your life.
I understand that this doesn't answer your rhetorical question. I wanted to rant and this seemed like a good place to do it.
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Re:Wow (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Wow (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:4, Funny)
That said, I don't really give a rip. I don't have a TIVO. I don't even have cable TV. I don't even know why I was reading this. Silly me.
The worst are the ones that make noise (Score:2)
On topic, what about those of us who use the skip forward button? I with skip, you still have a chance of catching a frame of an ad or two, but really, who pays attention t
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Every now and then I might see the flash of a commercial that might look intersting and will actually go back to watch it - albeit not often. If they actually made more commercials that were (a) interesting, (b) actually relevant to something, (c) not repeated a zillion times, or (d) didn't include dozens of 'enhancement' and diet
Re:Wow (Score:5, Informative)
Only if TiVo showed 60x fast-forward updating at only 1 frame per second would that be true. In fact, at 60x speed, out of a 30-second commercial TiVo shows you 15 frames of it in half a second.
To see only one frame of a 30-second commercial without still-storing the frame longer than the standard 1/30th of a second, you'd need 900x speed.
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Think about it. You work for an ad company, and you know that people using TiVos and other DVRs are skipping commercials. What would you do to get your message to them?
Would you up the expense of the ads to capture a wider audience. No, you would probably loose all of your customers doing that.
Would you move toward product placements? Yep, and notice that pro
That'll suck... (Score:2)
Way to encourage them to get up and go do something else, instead of looking at the same non-moving ad for 30 seconds.
Re:That'll suck... (Score:4, Insightful)
The message will be.. (Score:4, Funny)
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30 seconds, eh? (Score:2)
Go Go! (Score:5, Funny)
MythTV: Go go gadget commercial detection and skip! [mythtv.org]
Windows DVRs: Uh... Go go gadget DRM! Aw, crap!
Ryan Fenton
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It's been a number of years now since I played with MythTV, I should give it another look. Maybe it has reached the maturity level I need.
Re:Go Go! (Score:4, Informative)
Uh... my MCE setup did 30 s skip out of the box. In fact, I've become so used to it that it's become a bit of a problem while watching DVDs (it's the same button as chapter skip).
FUD much?
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Digital Networks is still in business and they werent sued. they didnt market themselves like Tivo so they didnt make as much money. the ended up selling the company to Digital Networks. while they dont make hardware anymore, but they still release software updates for the existing Replays.
does the new series 3 Tivo still require a landline for intial setup of the box?
if you want lan connectivity, do you still have to buy the usb adapter?
how long did it take Tivo to enable(without hacki
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To learn more about ReplayTV's current owner... (Score:2)
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Stick to your Tivo if you really want to. I'm sticking with what I have.
Re:Go Go! (Score:4, Informative)
Anyways, it takes all of 10 seconds to enable the 30-sec. skip on your Tivo:
Just start playing a program, then hit:
[select] [>] [select] [3] [0] [select] If you did it right, it'll go "ding ding ding" and then the button that used to skip to the 15/30 tic marks, now just skips 30 seconds forward. The only downside to this is that if your Tivo reboots or loses power, you have to re-enter this code in again.
it would, but ... (Score:3, Insightful)
So... (Score:4, Funny)
For G (Score:2)
Get a mythtv box or some other sort of home built solution that isn't beholden to the status quo.
My child is pretty rarely exposed to television advertising. For this I'm eternally grateful to the myth dev team.
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Mine actually scream for me to come and ff when commercials come on.
(The little one cries until the show comes back on!)
I actually built a mythbox specifically so I could record the kid's shows and edit out all the crap... now I can set them down and let them watch without the commercials.
I've got one of these [airlinktek.com] that I stuff full of kid shows (and stuff for mom & dad too) for when we go traveling. Very nice to be in a hotel room and not be at the
Re:For G (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:For G (Score:4, Informative)
And, you can't always send the kids outside either.
There is only one of me... mom works too... and someone has to cook dinner.
I can't cook dinner and watch the kids at the same time.
And neither can you.
So, yeah. Sometimes they get to watch the tube. If you don't like it... tough.
They aren't your kids.
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It requires a lot of work on the parents' part to read to the kid every night from the time they are a baby to get them to take to it, but if that's what it takes to have a smart kid, isn't it worth it?
It's okay to breathe. :-) (Score:3, Informative)
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Except for us MythTV owners! (Score:5, Insightful)
When will it stop? (Score:5, Insightful)
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1. When you've seen a commercial 100 times, you're probably tired of it
2. Even more so if it's a product you have no interest in
3. Which is probably 95% of all ads- I don't know the real numbers, but you can look at any random ad and figure out pretty easily that the product will appeal to a small fraction of viewers
4. Even for products you're interested in, you're not going to watch every single da
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DUH its because the commerical spot is less than 30 seconds and only 1 ad. Cram 7 commericals into a break and they all blend together in my mind.
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Not mine. I didn't see them to begin with!
Long before I even started taping shows (remember VHS?) I would not sit and watch commercials.
Simply because there were so many that I could get other stuff done during the "break"... I'd wash dishes, vacuum, do laundry... whatever.
Invariably I'd miss the beginning of the next portion... and decided to simply tape the shows instead.
The rest is history...
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>>>Why do people watch Internet Video ads (the ones that come before clips)?
I don't. I spend the whole 20 seconds trying to figure out how to skip it (and often succeeding).
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How else can the non-subscription networks get paid? I'm not refuting what you're saying, but what is the business model that's going to pay to produce programming?
I never watch commercials unless I happen to be watching live commercial-driven TV, which isn't often. I always Tivo the few shows that I watch that aren't on HBO (The Wire is the best program on TV) and zip through the advertisements. If I'm watching a football ga
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Subscription TV has now become worse than network TV in terms of ad saturation. The end result is that I watch very little TV at all anymore. There are so many ads that m
Ads Targeting TiVo (Score:5, Interesting)
The last second of their ad was a set of single frames with interesting information. To see what was there, you had to repeatedly watch the ad until you managed to hit pause at just the right time so you could single-step through the hidden content.
That way, (at least some) TiVo owners ended up spending 15 minutes on a 30-second ad. Now THAT's creative!!
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You are right.. that is amaizing. This is the exact type of thing I like to see - innovation! Not the 'cry cry cry, they are fast forwarding our ads, we need a new law' BS! Word up to GE. I'd like to see this example used AGAINST those trying to put through mor
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Then why not extend that and fill the whole 30 seconds with interesting information?
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I have absolutely no idea what HeadOn is for or why they are advertising it but it was enough to make sure we stopped the Tivo to watch it. Then we watched it again and again to make sure that we were laughing for good reason
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HeadOn (Score:2)
So yes, that's right, they're selling wax in a tube to rub on your forehead to relieve your headaches.
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Maybe companies need to insist that advertisers sell them ten 3 second slots and insist that the ad run with no more than 30 seconds of commercial time total... potentially 10 ads... but "wasting" no more than 30 seconds of the viewers time.
Let the people that want to watch the ad slow-mo the thing... and don't infuriate every one else.
Wouldn't more interesting adds be the answer? (Score:5, Insightful)
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This would make a good
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Good point. I guess this will mean that advertisers may invest to
make many different 30s commercials instead of repeating the same
every break, therefore changing the allocation of ad expenditures
between film production and media cost.
Could one build a series of 30s commercials in such a way that watching
one will increase the likelihood of you watching the next ? Could advertisers
possibly make you rewind your PVR recording looking for ot
Same old, Same old (Score:4, Insightful)
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It's interesting that a movie trailer with a newspaper is seen as a bonus, while having to sit through a movie trailer while waiting to
watch a movie is seen as an inconvenience.
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It's gotten to the point where
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Exactly!
I just deleted every "Commander in Chief" and "Invasion" from my Myth box this morning. I haven't watched any of them yet... and they are now on netflix.
When I do get around to those shows... they will be commercial free and of much higher quality than what I had from the tube.
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Now this is just dumb (Score:2)
Re:Now this is just dumb (Score:4, Funny)
Budweiser
Budweiser
Budweiser
Budweiser
.
.
.
Budweiser
KFG, Brought to you by -- Budweiser
Good. (Score:3, Insightful)
The Spinal Tap Solution.... (Score:5, Funny)
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Insanity (Score:2, Insightful)
Time to find a new way to get paid to annoy millions of people.
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I do, in a way: my wife and I now wait for shows (like Lost) to come out on DVD, and then we put them in our Netflix queue. It costs money in a way, with the Netflix monthly fee, but the time spent watching Lost would have been spent watching some other movie instead, and with shows on DVDs, there's no commercials to worry about.
Their approach doesn't work against Mythtv! (Score:5, Informative)
(I know your all gearing up to whine about how hard mythtv is to install,... then you probably havent tried Knoppmyth [mysettopbox.tv], or the Hyams Fantastic How-to [webhop.net] )
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Those are exactly what I've been waiting for to build a myth tv of my own.
Honestly (Score:4, Insightful)
There is a far more preferable category of commercials targetted at DVR owners: The ones that make you want to stop for them. Some commercials you merely stop for because they either interest you(car commercials when you are car shopping) are are simply well scripted and entertaining(Some of the recent Mac commercials). Then there was also a novel series of commercials that GE was running which had a series of text heavy images that were shown for only a few frames each near the end of the commercial. The point was to create a humorous Easter Egg for DVR owners who would be inclined to pause and advance frame by frame.
Doh! (Score:3, Funny)
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Hm... I feel a patent coming on... let's pollute the process with a little "prior art"...
You could do the above *if* there was a way to signal to the recorder to start with a *specific* frame when ff so tha you knew precisely which frames would follow. Otherwise, the f
Dish PVRs skip the 30 seconds (Score:2)
Do it the "stargate" way (Score:3, Insightful)
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And, I could not care less.
Until that content can show up on my TV, easily... I'll simply ignore it's existence. (and when it does show up it better be more than 75 percent of the screen!)
I watched exactly one of Sci-Fi's "webisodes" (for Eureka) and decided it was not worth the bullshit of firing up a computer that had flash on it and actually having to sit there while their server strained
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I had the same problem, what was worse was it took so long for the site to load that I wasted a ton of time waiting for a clip that I couldn't even watch. I sent them a feedback email about it but unless they get more complaints they'll probably just ignore the problem.
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That's the easy way out (Score:3, Insightful)
If you really want people to watch your advertisements, make them _want_ to watch. Make them interesting. People will go out of their way to watch them at least once, and share copies with all of their friends.
Of course, the down side to this is that you may have to actually pay someone to do the job.
slow down the fps! (Score:2)
Why not just film the ads at 1/3rd the real-time, so when you fast foward 3x, they will appear to go at normal speed?
Good thing... (Score:4, Interesting)
I mean, I'd really hate to be suckered in by an advertisement that was actually relevant!
But, by watching everything months later I can be sure that any shows being advertised will have been shown long ago... and, like every other frikken commercial... of absolutely no use to me.
So, until I'm:
1) geriatric
2) female
3) senile
4) stupid
5) impotent
6) over weight
7) bored
8) unable to solve my own problems
9) unable to read
etc...
I think I'll just keep skipping commercials. Because, at best... they are a complete waste of my time.
First line in TFA says it all (Score:3, Insightful)
It's on biatch!
Make the adverts suck less. (Score:2)
Make your adverts suck less, and I'll actually stop my tivo to watch them.
I don't need Billy Mays yelling at me. I don't need to see the same annoying people trying to sell me medication for stuff I don't have. I don't need to have an annoying jingle stuck in my head.
Good adverts that are either a) funny, or b) just well done get watched; an example of both is the Napa commercials with the American Chopper guys in it.
Thanks.
Nice (Score:2)
You know. The message that says "get fucked, TV advertisers. Your commercials suck, piss us off, and we're never buying your shit products. The more you make bad commercials and show them every 7 minutes, the more we hate you, and will do anything to avoid you and your products"
I cancelled TV service completely. It has had a generally positive effect
1 second theatre (Score:2)
Wow, what a stupid thing for advertisers to do.
If you want to target the DVR audience, do what the "Daily Show" did - Rob Cordry had a hilarious skit that included a list of all the people he hates. The list zoomed by so fast that only DVR-capable viewers could watch it. The list of people he hates included an email address: listpausers@yahoo.com - so we emailed it, and got this [flickr.com] in reply.
Totally awesome.
In May of this year, GE's "ecomagination" campaign had a very clever TV ad [purepvr.com] that included a spoof o
Cost (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm paying money to not watch commercials. I'm not downloading pirated films or rogue recordings. What the hell is the deal?
What's the point? (Score:2)
What on Earth is the point of trying to ram an advert down the throat of someone who has already demonstrated that he doesn't want to see it? Surely, surely, surely, the person who is forced to view it is more likely to view your product negatively after this experience than he is to suddenly change his mind and decide that "Gosh! I was wrong after all. I really want to buy the product from this manufacturer
What I want (Score:2)
What I want is for my PVR to *record* the commercial, and then when I'm watching the program inform me that it has ads that I can watch. When I feel like looking at the ads, it should give me a list of available ads showing me:
- Sponsor
- The shows that the sponsor sponsors
- a gross classification for the ad (gambling, liquor, sex, stuff I don't care about)
- Ad name
I should be able to filter the ads so that it automatically removes ads th
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Bender, is that you?
Fantastic! (Score:2)
yikes (Score:2)
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And, local breaks tend to be 10x louder
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