Apparently, online video viewers don't mind eight advertisements any more than they minded four, at least according to ABC. A TVWeek.com story focuses on one of the panels at NATPE conference:
ABC has learned that doubling the ad load from four to eight in its online primetime shows doesn't decrease consumer interest in watching shows online, said Albert Cheng, executive VP of digital media with the Disney-ABC Television Group, during an afternoon panel at NATPE. During its research, the network also learned that it can run ads for anywhere from one to four brands without impacting brand favorability. "People still find the user experience enjoyable when there are more brands in a single episode, and that doesn't decrease the ad recall or the viewing experience," he said. However, advertisers are wary of too much clutter, said Donna Speciale, president of investment and activation with MediaVest Worldwide, during the same panel.
Read the rest of Online Viewers Not Hostile to Ads via TVWeek.com
The comments on the Hulu discussion board about too many ads begs to differ. I think a minute or less for each of 4 commercial breaks is all that consumers can take before they start to get pissy. That’s my guess, at least.
But at what point do they go beyond getting “pissy” and trade legit streaming for illegal downloads. That’s the threshold the nets are looking for.
ABC doesn’t care about Hulu cause they aren’t one of the two owners (FOX and NBC are). They don’t check Hulu comments for their videos. I guess since the online views didn’t change much, they can make this statement.
1 minute is fine, I mean.. how many years we had living with 18 minutes of ads? I just saw Lost and I swear it was 20 minutes of ads and only 40 minutes of Lost.
Heradite, I know that. I’m just saying that outside of their focus group the viewing public does seem to complain.
Actually, I do mind. I’ve recently watched videos on abc.com and was really annoyed in the increase of videos. It left a bad taste in my mouth and I much prefer hulu because of that.
Hulu is now offering to watch one trailer video vs regular ads before some shows. I almost always opt for the one trailer because it is like going to the movies. I wish networks put all of their shows online because that is the only way I like to watch them. For instance – why does CBS stream NCIS but not The Mentalist. I watch NCIS the next day online and watch the ads on CBS’s website. I DVR The Mentalist and speed through the ads. Which is preferable to the ad companies? Which is preferable to me? I like having the show on my computer that I can take to my favorite spot of the day and watch. Hey – we both prefer streaming online – why don’t the networks get that?
Marenamoo, there was only one time that I had that option, but I really liked it. I wonder which videos they offer it for?
Advertisers need to switch to product placement within TV shows rather than traditional ads. Products can be featured on the shows itself. Like driving past a car company billboard on the show or using various products during a dinner scene. With broadcast TV I usually channel surf during commercials to see what else is on. Dont download much but if they keep increasing the numbers of ads Im sure someone will create software to block the ads or automatically fast forward past them.
Yep, LOST has more and more ads, its darn close to 20 minutes these days. One thing I like about Fringe is they limit commercial breaks to 60 or 90 seconds.
Some comedy shows on CBS have been doing on-the-set product placement. In addition on Mondays there have been single advertisers sponsoring the first two hours. One day it was Bertoli frozen dinners (which are good) and another the Paul Blart movie. I’ve noticed this trend most prominently in the comedy blocks. It might be harder to do that with heavier dramas since it would be distracting, as in, look, Laurence Fishburne is drinking a Pepsi while he is looking at a guy with a knife in his chest. But see, I remember the products and I normally don’t.
ABC started showing General Hospital and The View online last week. I watched GH. There were an awful lot of ads for their daytime and primetime shows. I didn’t see (more like hear since I was doing something else too) any out of network advertiser ads.
Since I watch none of the ABC shows except GH this at least made me aware of their other shows.
Sixteen ads per online episode does seem a bit much – but as others have pointed out, that’s still a little less advertising than we’d see in an hour of broadcast TV.
It’s also not a situation where online ads are “zap-proof.” No reason to stick around watching them, even if the fast-forward is disabled. We can multitask; while the ads are running, I typically toggle to another browser window and do something else. Or play solitaire. Whatever
. When I hear the TV characters’ voices again, I go back.
The real threshold will be when people complain that they have to “sit through” an extra 20 minutes of ads to watch a full (TV hour-long) episode; at that point, more illegal downloading is likely becasue it saves time and minimizes annoyance.
Clutz, yeah, I never pay attention to the ads, particularly on Hulu, since they repeat the same ad over and over again, and I’m sick of them.
It’s hard to tell from the article but it seems like this research is based on what people SAY and not what they DO.
Can ABC produce data showing that they actually have doubled the ad load in streaming of some shows and the streams are still viewed to completion at the same rate? If so, what’s the size of that sample?
Or is this just research in which people are asked what they THINK they would do if the ad load were doubled?
Mikey, an important distinction for sure. The little more available is that it was based on research from Disney and Nielsen, but that still doesn’t mean it was based on what they did vs. what they said. I’ll see if I can find anything out.
I have shifted to more and more (legit) online viewing because the on-air commercial breaks were so long I lost the sense of narrative flow to the point of sometimes forgetting what I was watching by the time the show came back on. Maybe that says more about me than about the length of the commercial breaks.
The other thing about the number of commercials and length of breaks is that I’m getting 41 or 42 minutes of what I sat down for but I’m spending an hour to get it. Hulu and other online options do require me to spend a little more time to see what I want, but it’s nowhere as out of proportion as the rampant greed indicated by the on-air ads.
The extreme expansion of ad-time is the primary reason for the sea-change in my personal viewing habits.
Sweet 16
I would be glad to watch legit streaming TV with ads… anything up to and including the amount of time we get for ads on TV, honestly. If I don’t want to watch them I can use that time to go grab a snack or go to the restroom…. same as I could if watching it on TV.
But I very rarely watch legit streaming, unless I didn’t realise I missed an episode until a week later or so, and there is only one reason for that. The legit streams are better quality than any illegal download I’ve seen, and I absolutely DON’T MIND supporting the shows I love through advertising. In most cases, I end up buying the DVD sets at the end of the season anyway BUT… I watch downloads from Chinese viseo sites etc during the rest of the year.
The reason for that is SPEED. If I can’t watch the episode until a week after it airs, even a few days, that is already too late to participate in any online fan site or discussion without getting spoilers. The bootleggers get their episodes up within hours, the network can take up to a week. To me, the fandom is half of the fun. I like to speculate with others about what’s going to happen next. I also like to watch my TV online. Until the networks start getting their episodes out after they air (I’d think, for example, that a show that aired from 8-9 PM could start streaming shortly after 9 for a one hour delay? Even 24 hours or so, I might hold out for the quality… but not a week), its just not a feasible option for those who like to discuss the new episode with others.
Watching online is a last resort for me. A lot of times the ads stream just fine while the rest of the program stops and starts or worst restarts.