Live Commercials Will Save TV? 157
Vitaly Friedman writes "Entrepreneur Mark Cuban doesn't believe that traditional television advertising is dead, it simply needs to be more interesting. And what's more interesting than being live? From the article: 'It's no secret that the traditional 30-second spot has been losing much of its luster with advertisers. With the rise of other media options (videogames, home theater systems, Web surfing) on the one hand and the recent growth of DVRs like TiVo on the other, traditional television advertising has been feeling the squeeze. Broadcasting executives are struggling to figure out the economics of the new digital landscape, and have been willing to try just about any creative idea, such as TiVo's plan to replace old commercials with new ones when watching recorded shows.'"
oh yes... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:oh yes... (Score:2)
They're live as in not Superbowl ads in April.
$20 says you won't be able to ff thru them much longer if they're going to all this work.
Re:oh yes... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:oh yes... (Score:2)
I'm writing your name down...if I end up seeing this on my Tivo, I'll know who to blame.
Re:oh yes... (Score:2)
Re:oh yes... (Score:2)
Dynamic? (Score:2)
Sounds expensive... (Score:3, Interesting)
This one is still running... (Score:1)
Re:Sounds expensive... (Score:2)
Re:Sounds expensive... (Score:2)
Re:Sounds expensive... (Score:2)
Re:Sounds expensive... (Score:2)
Which is one of the main reasons I skip through the damn things. Nothing sends my finger flying for the FF button faster than the realization that the same idiotic clip they've been shoving in my face every night for the last month, just started.
So media really is cyclical? (Score:2)
Re:So media really is cyclical? (Score:2)
Re:So media really is cyclical? (Score:2)
Wooo Hooo! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Wooo Hooo! (Score:2)
It's pie...and chips...fa free...
What's not to like?
Dave
Re:Wooo Hooo! (Score:1)
(Well, something had to supplant Taco Bell's cute little dog. )
Re:Wooo Hooo! (Score:2)
Interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
What I'm driving at is that I think live TV commercials *would* be interesting, at least at first. No doubt they would become just as normal and familiar as everything else shown on TV in the past 50+ years, but at least we wouldn't have to see the same thing over and over and over again.
On the other hand, considering how much money is currently spent on pre-recorded commercials, I somehow doubt that we'd see more than a few live ones, only during prime-time, and only on major networks.
Re:Interesting (Score:3, Funny)
I don't see why they do that, some brainer probably sat there and said "if they see our ad 23 times this hour they gotta buy our anal leakage cream for sure!".
Tom
Not buying it ... yet. (Score:3, Insightful)
Seeing it 23 times won't make you go out and buy it ... if you don't need it.
... you'll remember the brand. Which usually results in more purchases of that brand over other brands.
But when you need it
So repetition is what the advertisers want.
The trick is to make the repetition less boring so people don't fast forward through the commercial and you
Re:Not buying it ... yet. (Score:2)
"Drink Pepsi! It's full of neato chemicals and corn syrup! Yum!"
or
"Drive our Ford Monstrocity F-200 Manly Man Series! 8MPG is our new personal best!"
or even
"This Dell XPS170000K series with some random assortment of parts assembled by mexicans in Texas is just what you need! Honest!"
Frankly, I buy what I want, not what the TV tells me to. The fact they assume I have the IQ of some sort of retarded 4 year old child thoug
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
Even more annoying is when they repeat the same ad twice in the ad break - just in case you missed it. Throw in a scrolling banner or pop-up ad in the program too: they might have forgotten since the last ad break three minutes ago... They probably gave the fucker who thought of this a medal - bastards!
Annoying web ads (Score:2)
Since I don watch much TV live anymore... (Score:2)
It wouldn't ever really be interesting ot me. I literally record every show that I'm interested in and watch it later. Live commercials would do absolutely no good in my case.
Let me reiterate - I don't watch live TV. Until they build a device that prevents me from viewing commercials, I'll skip them. Always.
Seriously, the best hope anyone has of advertising to me is product placement within the show
as we speak (Score:2)
Re:as we speak (Score:2)
Live content is even better because people will go out of their way to be "in the moment." The only problem with this is, live events are te
Clue (Score:2, Redundant)
Forget ads on TV. Come up with a better way to get the sponsors' messages out to the public. A
Re:Clue (Score:2)
I remember commercials! (Score:1)
just make decent commercials (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:just make decent commercials (Score:1)
I was fortunate enough to live through the "Alka-Seltzer" era, when people would actually go out of their way to watch their commercial.
There have even been shows where the whole show is a collection of foreign commercials, and most were hilarious.
Most of the crap thought up here in America is just about as dull and boring as being forced to hear the details of Uncle Jessie's church wedding every five minutes while trying to enjoy a meal.
As a group of consumers, we have b
The worst offenders (Score:2)
5. Time life products- especially the country music compilations
4. Hair products; at least the models are usually hot
3. Personal injury claims- bloody ambulance chasers. At least no-win no-fee is banned in Ireland
2. Personal finance & insurance - please, just make it stop... I'll give you money
1. Mobile phone ringtones; kill me now.
Re:The worst offenders (Score:4, Insightful)
This is why I refuse to buy almost anything I haven't researched and/or sampled beforehand. I'll be damned if I'm going to be persuaded by some lying ads. (I've known some awesome products to have horrendous ads, and some horrendous products that have had [though rarely] good ads. Better to look into reviews first)
And I'd like to make a special mention for drug ads. Let me say this: If you have to ask your doctor if you need a drug, you don't need it. If you're so sick that you need medication, your doctor should (in an indeal world) be the one to tell you. I'd like to see pharmaceutical ads off advertisements altogether, before they make this already paranoid generation into hypochondriacs.
Shift (Score:1)
Hmmm (Score:2)
Pay for shows with DVD sales (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Pay for shows with DVD sales (Score:2)
This might be a usable idea but there might be a point where they decide not to run TV shows at all and make everything straight for DVD. Or worse, the first few episodes in a season will be broadcast, but then to see the end of the season, you'll be force to buy the DVD.
Re:Pay for shows with DVD sales (Score:2)
Sell the damn shows online (Score:2)
If we could download those shows (even if it were 50c/hr) then we'd probably do that instead. It will obviously hurt the local affliates, but it could make financial sense for those producing the programs.
Re:Pay for shows with DVD sales (Score:2)
-matthew
Re:Pay for shows with DVD sales (Score:2)
What about no commercials? (Score:3, Interesting)
TV needs people to watch it, and more and more people don't want to because of the ads.
If 24 is actually 18 hours long, that says something awful about how much advertising is on tv.
Ok, no ads, means no money for tv, so:
Why not reduce ads to a level at which they stop being so intrusive? Have a couple at fewer times and charge more. Make better TV to get more viewers and spots can become more expensive. Revenue could stay the same, and TV would actually improve.
Re:What about no commercials? (Score:2)
2. Charge more for said reduced time.
3. ???
4. Profit!
Re:What about no commercials? (Score:2)
2. Charge more for said reduced time.
3. ???
4. Profit!"
There wouldn't need to be a step 3. That has the potential to work. The main reason it isn't likely to happen, though, is that you'd be turning away dudes carrying bags of money.
Re:What about no commercials? (Score:1)
Re:What about no commercials? (Score:2)
Sure, there are public networks like the BBC [bbc.co.uk]. They get their money from the government, though radio and television license fees. No ads, except for their own promos between programs. I'd be happy to pay extra for BBC Canada [bbccanada.ca] if they'd ditch their ads.
It's a business model that works, though folks in the U.K. grumble about it. It can produce excellent television. But it's also a model the U.S.A. rejected abou
Re:What about no commercials? (Score:2)
Because people like me (bastards) would STILL block/skip them. It would just be less work if there was less. I block any and all advertising out of my life that I lawfully can. Totally indiscriminately. I don't care if it is targeted, relevent, and unintrusive.
-matthew
Live Commercials? I remember those. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Live Commercials? I remember those. (Score:2)
Product Placement (Score:3, Interesting)
I predict more time travel and dream sequences.
Re:Product Placement (Score:1)
Frankly, I'd welcome this. I'd much rather see Earl Hickey drink a pepsi now and again than have the whole show stop for four minutes to tell me how great pepsi is.
Re:Product Placement (Score:2, Insightful)
I did.
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. (Score:2)
This industry is dying, and thank God! (Score:4, Interesting)
Sirius and XM are becoming more popular and from what I've seen, public radio is gaining an audience. People are abandoning commercial radio because now there are alternatives! The same will happen to TV, take note!
-Ponga
Re:This industry is dying, and thank God! (Score:2)
-matthew
They didn't mention one important fact ... (Score:2)
The traditional 30-second spot lost its luster with audiences about sixty seconds after the first one was broadcast.
Re:They didn't mention one important fact ... (Score:2)
They can make commercials any length they want, though, but I still won't watch them. It is content that I'm simply not interested in viewing. Hardly anyone is, which is why they are doing their level best to force us to have to watch the things rather than find some other way to support their
Re:They didn't mention one important fact ... (Score:2)
I foresee a patent war. (Score:4, Funny)
more interesting? (Score:2)
Live isn't interesting (Score:4, Insightful)
Really, it isn't. You just get screwed up lines, and pay a hell of a lot extra for it.
What's interesting is relevance. The average bachelor isn't going to run out and buy tampons because an actress told him how fun it was to go rollerskating on your period, but he might go out and buy exercise equipment because Chuck Norris told him it would improve his roundhouse kicks.
The problem is getting the information necessary to tailor ads to individual preferences without it being a hassle for the viewer or infringe on privacy. Rather than try and obtain their preferences through positive reinforcement, I suggest there should be a huge red button on every remote that says I never want to see this advert again!
This way, viewers can get rid of the really annoying adverts and the ones that don't interest them at all, and advertisers can build up an idea of what they do like by seeing what they don't block.
Obviously, there has to be some safeguard against simply blocking every advert, but that shouldn't be too difficult. For example, only let viweers block x number of adverts, and when they block more than that, start unblocking the least recently blocked ones.
Re:Live isn't interesting (Score:2)
Okay, so if they know how many you are allowed to block, what will stop them from just making enough really annoying ones (ie typical ones) to fill your block list and keep your watching the rest?
Re:Live isn't interesting (Score:2)
The purpose of adverts is to sell, not to annoy. Why would they make multiple deliberately annoying adverts to bypass your block when they can make single non-annoying adverts for less money and not get blocked in the first place?
Re:Live isn't interesting (Score:2)
The purpose of advers is to get a brand/product into your head so that you think and talk about it. Fact is, annoying works. Probably isn't a good idea to go overboard with it, but it works.
An annoying ad can be pretty cheap to make. And if they know it is going to be blocked by mo
Re:Live isn't interesting (Score:3, Insightful)
How could that possibly compete with systems that allows you to block ALL ads? Hmm, I could buy this service that only lets me block the most annoying ads and eventually the ads start popping back up anyway... or I could get a system that not only block
Re:Live isn't interesting (Score:2)
I do think it's a cool idea, 'cause there are plenty of times I've seen a commercial and thought "OH HAILLLL NOO, Not this Sh!t again!" and I've muted it and walked away. Which if you think of it from the commerical maker's perspective is terrible. Say there were 5 commercials in that block. (I wish t
Interesting ads are the key (Score:2)
Keep in mind that Music Videos are essentially ads.
One of my friends who lived in Germany in the 80's told me t
Re:Interesting ads are the key (Score:2)
Interesting, or actually funny. Or both! As an example, I find nearly all Geico commercials hilariously funny, and I watch them every time. Even if I've seen them, they just have that hook. I also love the Volkswagon commercials with Peter Stormare [imdb.com]. What I can't stand? Jingles. I especially hate jingles when they rip off another song. They're vile, evil commercials. Sex doesn't really sell anymore in my opinion, either... sex is just a click away on the internet now, nobody cares to see it unless
Re:Interesting ads are the key (Score:2)
These are so rare than I think people are starting to simply block ads altogether.
On the other hand, the spectacularly annoying ad is toast in the PVR era.
No, they just won't get aired
Step away from the bong, Cuban (Score:2)
I don't think advertisers are going to go for live spots. For one thing, all it takes is one on-air screw-up to blow an entire ad campaign and wreck an advertiser's credibility. Giant corporations don't advertise because they want to entertain people; they advertise because they think it generates revenue. TV advertisers are for the most part extremely risk-averse organizations, and they want control over the message they broadcast.
As others have noted, product placement is the wave of the future. I would
Live Commercials? Isn't that a telethon? (Score:2, Funny)
Interesting ads (Score:1)
Re:Interesting ads (Score:2)
As a middle-income, single, Australian, male, technical/internet tradesman in his 30's, I should be smack-bang in the middle of the target demographic for those ads. But from the first time I saw the first one, I found them really annoying. And I don't think I was alone - I can't recall a single instance of my workmates ever mentioning those ads.
So why do Australians keep bringing these ads up as an example
Its in the shorts (Score:3, Insightful)
Ever watch American Idol? Notice the TVs behind Ryan Seacrest displaying Coca Cola logos and bubbles? The ads are becoming part of the show.
But, along these same lines, ads are starting to get better. Every day, I get video files forwarded to me by E-mail that are frequently... ADS. And they're funny as hell.
Here's an example: It's funny as hell, and I sure don't mind forwarding this to my friends. [nyud.net] So, this leather company not only gets people to look at their ad, they don't even pay the costs of distribution!
The world is changing. Guess what? It's been doing that since it was created...
The problem is commercials are annoying (Score:2)
Re:The problem is commercials are annoying (Score:2)
Not if the people can help it. Given the choice between watching more "interesting" ads and no ads (a good PVR or renting shows on DVD/online), I think the obvious choice is no ads. Perhaps you can SLOW the adoption of ad skipping technology, but it is here to stay. There is also the disruption factor of current advertising. People are discovering how much better TV is without contant interruptions. I don't care how interesting an
Re:The problem is commercials are annoying (Score:2)
I subscibe to Circuit Cellar magazine. It's a very technical magazine on embedding systems. It's very finely targetted, and the ads are almost as valuable as the articles.
Advertsing can be done well and be a useful resource. It just isn't.
Re:The problem is commercials are annoying (Score:2)
Oh, I understand that. I sometimes like to look at the ads in a Linux Journal to see what the latest rack mount x64 server is or whatever. The difference is not just the relevence, but the timing and placement. When you are reading an article, you aren't interrupted every 5 minutes to be shown an ad. You can read articles and browse ads a
You mean like in old TV shows? (Score:2)
integrated commercials (Score:2)
Masked figure draws back curtain--raises hand to strike.
"I stab at thee with TrueSharp(tm) cutlery. Remember, nothing stabs quite like a TrueSharp(tm)."
I realize there are some logistical issues to work, but it will make skipping the commercial impossible.
he just might be right (Score:2)
The economics of commercial creation are different from the economics of creating general TV content, it's cost-effective to spend megabucks on creating a 30 second commercial if one is going to spend a lot more megabucks on commercial time and one is hoping to sell enough products based on it to make this profitable. What I think he's really saying is... punch up the entertainment content and spend only a bit more money per commercial.
Immune to advertising (Score:2, Interesting)
Don't get me wrong, I laugh at adverts if they're legitimately funny, but that doesn't mean I'm going to buy the product.
We've been bombarded by them so much that we simply don't take in the relevance of the product. My own mother, who is perhaps the biggest couch potato I know, has been using the ad breaks to make a cup of tea for
Silly networks...the answer is "Charge us". (Score:4, Interesting)
Every time I read an article on this subject, someone is hypothesizing that in the next release TiVo may kill the ability to skip commercials altogether. I can't think of anything to be less afraid of. If TiVo did that, TiVo would vanish overnight and we'd all be watching Myth TV or any number of other PC based solutions.
So what's the solution for the TV networks?
There's only one "killer" solution for the TV business, and its been around for a long time: Its called "Pay Channels". (Or paid digital downloads as the case may be). And its the future, whether you like it or not.
The advertising model as we know it will cease to exist.
Product placement is a fantasy. It will never carry the same level of messaging, or command the same revenues. The networks will try to push it, but the advertisers don't think they're getting their money's worth, and the viewers will just be increasingly disgusted.
The answer is "Pay for it" and its already here [apple.com]
Re:Silly networks...the answer is "Charge us". (Score:2)
Even satelite radio has f*c*n ads. (and you pay a monthly fee for it too!)
Make the commercials NOT SUCK!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, marketing types, we watch the Superbowl commercials ON PURPOSE!!!
I can't remember who won, or even who played in, the Superbowl for the past several years. But I remember the E-Trade monkey, Terry Tate the office linebacker, the pets.com sock puppet, Autobytel, and those Budwiser frogs. Hell, I know the dialogue to the 1984 Macintosh commercial by heart!
What's the difference? During the Superbowl is about the only time the advertisers put out commercials that DON'T FUCKING SUCK!!! Get that you pinheaded marketing drones?!?!? Make your commercials NOT SUCK... make them entertaining... and I WON'T Tivo past them! No tricks, no stunts, no blipverts, no need to try and rig broadcasts so I CAN'T fast-forward; and don't accuse me of being a thief for getting up to go to the bathroom; just stop making your commercials suck ass!
cya,
john
Re:Make the commercials NOT SUCK!!! (Score:2)
Much like you, I enjoy watching a good ad.
(For the Aussies - it was Carlton Draught: "it's a big ad, very
"More Interesting" (Score:3, Interesting)
The problem is hollywood has no idea what "interesting" means.
Re: (Score:2)
I have a DVR and I watch commercials (Score:3, Interesting)
The problem is that advertisers aren't being very scientific about this. When you read a newspaper, no one forces you to read the ads, yet they are very effective! No one has proven that skipping ads makes them less effective.
I think advertisers would be surprised if they tried to determine how much of their message "sticks" when viewers can skip through them. Specifically, when someone is skipping through an ad, that person is paying close attention. Likewise, even when people have the ability to skip an ad, they will still let them play while they walk to the kitchen for a [insert heavily advertised snack or beverage].
A company like Tivo might want to consider investing in experiments that demonstrate how a Tivo can make traditional television advertising more effective.
TIVO Commercials (Score:2)
Like now I am totally ignoring the tv during a commercial as I post to slashdot. However, when I use the TIVO I have to concentrate on the tv, and thus the commercial to effectively skip it and resume my show.
I glean more than enough information in the 3-5 seconds of commercials than I care to. This is obvisously because all commercials are the same,
Adult Swim (Score:2)
A.) Are not repetitive,
B.) Feels like they are actually aimed at myself as a consumer.
I feel that if networks do not start mimicing this brilliance soon, and make the audience engage
the holy grail of tv (Score:2)
Re:Real-time recordings (Score:2)
Re:Please (Score:1)
And yet this commercial is a complete failure, because you called it the "caveman one."
MAKE THE COMMERCIAL ABOUT THE PRODUCT/SERVICE YOU ARE TRYING TO SELL
Old style ad:
"Cars"
Post WWII ad:
"Our car is better because it has an extra chrome rimmed hole in the fender"
Modern ad:
"I'm a cute kid. If I go hungry it's going to be all your fault, because you didn't buy our car. Did you notice that I'm cute?"
Maybe "ads" don't need to be more inte
I don't think his products work. (Score:2)
Re:I don't think his products work. (Score:2)
You're probably doing it wrong, or drinking the wrong sort of six-packs.
What you need to do is:
When you wake up your abs will display the perfect, or "true", 6-pack
Re:That's because.. (Score:2)