ABC Wants to Break Commercial Skipping
Wow. I don't know what planet this guy lives on, but they must not have a very oxygen-rich atmosphere. According to Mike Shaw, ABC's President of Advertising Sales, DVR makers like Tivo should turn off the fast-forward button. What's more, he doesn't think that consumers will mind:
"I would love it if the MSOs, during the deployment of the new DVRs they're putting out there, would disable the fast-forward [button]," Shaw said.
While MSOs risk losing some of their DVR customers if fast-forwarding were blocked, Shaw said the cable operators--who are beefing up their own local ad sales operations--"are in the same business we're in." "They've got to sell ads too," he said. "So if everybody's skipping everybody's ads, that's not a long-term business model for them either."
Shaw also threw cold water on the idea that neutering the fast-forward option would result in a consumer backlash. He suggested that consumers prefer DVRs for their ability to facilitate on-demand viewing and not ad-zapping--and consumers might warm to the idea that anytime viewing brings with it a tradeoff in the form of unavoidable commercial viewing.
I don't know about you, but I'm not feeling very "warm" about a "tradeoff" where content providers break my gadgets.
3 Comments:
I don't have to make a tradeoff between "anytime viewing" and commercial skipping now. Why would I be happy about giving up commercial skipping in the future?
I think he's a complete idiot. If I were forced to sit through 8+ minutes of ads for every half hour of content, I'd just stop watching most of the shows I watch today. It just isn't worth it, especially since I actually find many of the ads irritating and/or insulting. And I'm not interested in MOST of the crap being pitched.
The ad-driven business model is dying a slow death. It is time to find a new way to fund the content - product placement, for example. Or give me targetting ads - like Google AdWords - by working WITH DVR vendors like TiVo. I use TiVo's new Product Watch feature, which is basically Ads on Demand, because I can find promos for things I want to know about - like new movies or DVDs, or new cars. (Not that I'm in the market for a car, I have a new car, but I'm interested in them.)
I'm not going to switch toothpaste, shampoo, painkillers, etc, based on ads. Period. I'm a single male, I have no need for feminine hygene products. I'm not interested in Girls Gone Wild - besides, if I was I can get it free online. ;-) I don't drink crappy American beer, like Bud. The ads I do catch when zapping through them have little interest.
Some ads are clever. I like the Geico gecko - but I live in MA with regulated insurance, so competition is non-existant, rates are set by the state, unfortunately. I like the new "Ask Dr.Z" ad for DaimlerChrysler - but I own a Dodge Charger already. I didn't buy it because of any ads, I bought it because I drove by the dealer regularly and saw it on the lot and wanted it.
Advertising, as it stands, is a shotgun approach. Throwing ads at the audience and hoping you catch enough of your target group. That's why more and more people are turning to DVRs to skip the ads, because they are mostly irrelevant. And it will just get worse. Think of it as banner and pop-up blocking for TV. If they try to take it away, it'll just drive more people to piracy via BitTorrent, etc. Or completely away from TV in the first place. More and more people just wait for the DVDs as it is.
Thanks again to executives who pay no attention to research and common sense. If I'm fast forwarding, I'm paying MORE attention to the screen because I need to know when my show is coming on.
And yes, some research has shown that people will stop and watch the ads they're interested in.
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