Comments on: Digital pennies and dimes soon to be digital half dollars?

By: Darin H

Darin H — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:52:22 +0000

My whole entertainment life is geared around avoiding ads. I don’t watch much of any live TV anymore (having a baby in the house makes that almost impossible anyways). DVR has been a godsend. Commercial breaks have gotten out of hand, 4-6 minutes a break, 20 minutes an hour? No thanks. I’d rather networks go the way of HBO. I can barely sit through 2 ad per break on Survivor online (DISH and local CBS are having a spat), but I do what I must until I switch to DirecTV. If it gets worse, I’ll just stop watching.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:27:38 +0000

i am 26 and like to sit and watch tv

By: David4

David4 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:25:28 +0000

Jeff Zucker needs to be fired.

Anyways, 1 minute commercial breaks four times an episode I’m OK with, but it depends what it it is. I can’t remember if there were long commercials in HULU movies or not. No one wants to watch movies with 5 minute breaks in them for commercials.

By: Bad Robot !

Bad Robot ! — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:12:33 +0000

90% of people still prefer to sit down in front of a TV the traditional way – when a show is originally broadcast. Increasing numbers are using DVR’s but if the economy continues to stink, expensive frills like DVR services/super high speed internet (needed for online viewing) will likely suffer. As for watching online, thats still a very small percentage of viewers – mostly techno geeks and college age or younger viewers. 10,20,30 years from now this will certainly change as more old people die and younger people start viewing online, but not now.

As for ads, I pay little attention to them online or off. When I need something I go online and research it or buy based on recommendation of family and friends and products/companies with good reputations. And once I find a product I like, I usually keep buying until they stop selling it, if its high quality and the price is reasonable. Most ads to me are just noise.

By: JustTunedIn

JustTunedIn — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:40:33 +0000

That’s a good point Jack. I have also clicked on ads played before videos, or on ad banners when I’ve seen something interesting.

I’m sure I’ve wanted to look more into something I’ve seen on tv, but 5 minutes later I probably have forgotten the ad all together, and it’s not like I can pause the tv show to take them time there and then to check it out. I like that online ads allow you to immediately check them out if you see something that interests you.

Instead of number of minutes of ads they should concentrate on very short ad spots. 10-15 seconds max should be enough to highlight the main points with a “click here” for longer ad and product website. I would call these Teaser Ads. You don’t need the full 4 minutes, or even 2 minutes. Let the advertisers do the work to MAKE you interested enough to click or follow up on it in another browser.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:00:09 +0000

I have even clicked on a few Hulu ads and gone to the product web site and ordered. I have never done that for TV commercials. I ignore them.

By: Cath

Cath — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:56:25 +0000

I noticed that the ads in front of “Saturday Night Live” sketches on the NBC site are very short. Don’t know how much advertisers pay for those or if they are sold in a bundle. I’d much rather watch a 15-20 second ad online than something longer and if the ads are done well the products advertised at least stick with you. People are less likely to multitask during short advertisements and more likely to pay attention.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:21:17 +0000

I am willing to put up with the same amount of commercials online as on TV. I enjoy the convenience of being able to watch any show any time I want. Commercial interruption is no big deal to me. I just surf the internet during them.

By: NN

NN — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:05:23 +0000

Thanks for the quote and I do believe you’re right in the whole equal levels of advertising in online and broadcast tv.
It is sometimes hinted that Hulu has problems selling all of its ad inventory because the advertisers haven’t been willing to move from the tried and true Nielsen reported viewing numbers on broadcast/cable to the more uncharted online area, could it be that one of the major reasons for the lower number of ads online is that they still struggle to get enough advertisers on board ?