Expect more commercials thanks to ratings plunge

[mvcg66b3r]

If you think there are too many ads on TV now, just wait.

Cramming even more commercial time into shows is just one option networks are eyeing to counter a widespread ratings shortfall sparked by a dramatic drop in viewership this season, according to media and ad executives.

Giving money back — a once-unheard of proposition — is also being bandied about as TV ad sales departments scramble to figure out how to bridge the growing gap between the ratings they guaranteed advertisers and the actual numbers, media buyers said.

With the new fall TV season approaching in a matter of weeks, buyers calculate that top cable and broadcast networks owe hundreds of millions of dollars in airtime that wasn’t delivered this season.

http://nypost.com/2015/08/16/expect-more-commercials-thanks-to-ratings-plunge/

 

[LKellerIII]

I realize that any TV program provider who survives on advertising is between a rock and a hard place, but that would be a bad move, IMO. It will just make otherwise lazy people DVR more than they do already. Personally, I DVR practically everything I watch, even sports. The trick with live sports is to start watching about 45 minutes after the beginning of the game, then fast forward during commercials. You'll catch up with live TV before the end of the game, but you will have missed a ton of commercials. It works with live local news too.

Frankly, I foresee a future in which the current advertising model will be futile, and they'll have to try something else. One hideous thought is "banner" ads, like the internet, in which we will have to tolerate the bottom portion of the screen running sound-less ads, as we're watching something. It would be DVR proof...until somebody invents blocking technology that would block it out.

Gotta love technology.

 

[crainbebo]

So do I expect CBS to have 36-minute prime time half-hour shows with 20 minutes of commercials, ala TV Land? If this starts to happen, my prime time viewing will be SIGNIFICANTLY slashed. I've got enough movies/TV shows on VHS and DVD to last months.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I tape everything but some commercials look so interesting I have to stop and watch.

And I'm still doing exercises that take 30 seconds. They don't seem to help with the pain except right when I'm doing them.

Everything is going to hurt at my age.

 

[landtuna]

I realize that any TV program provider who survives on advertising is between a rock and a hard place, but that would be a bad move, IMO. It will just make otherwise lazy people DVR more than they do already. Personally, I DVR practically everything I watch, even sports. The trick with live sports is to start watching about 45 minutes after the beginning of the game, then fast forward during commercials. You'll catch up with live TV before the end of the game, but you will have missed a ton of commercials. It works with live local news too.

Frankly, I foresee a future in which the current advertising model will be futile, and they'll have to try something else. One hideous thought is "banner" ads, like the internet, in which we will have to tolerate the bottom portion of the screen running sound-less ads, as we're watching something. It would be DVR proof...until somebody invents blocking technology that would block it out.

Gotta love technology.

TV could follow radio and split their advertising minute into six 10-second blasts making it virtually impossible for the average listener to understand what they've just heard.

 

[Markxxx]

You have to sneak those ads in...From Radio...

Great Gildersleeve: I'll just have toast this morning

Birdie: Just toast???

Great Gildersleeve: With Parkay margarine of course

Birdie: That's a given, everyone in this house sure loves that Parkay and it's so economical too

[back to show]

 

[vchimpanzee]

I was fiddling with my new TiVo and found out it does have the button thas ahead 30 seconds. However, I like commercials too much and I will see them, sort of, while fast-forwarding.

 

[b-turner]

I have noticed in recent years the dual screen where one show's credits roll over the intro of the next show so an extra spot can be tossed in. It's a good idea since it gets the viewer in to the next show in a more passive fashion.

I also noticed shows starting at odd times thanks to an over abundance of commercials. I suspect more of this in the future. I think back to Ted Turner's comments in the 1980s that there would be so much content on TV it will be difficult, if not impossible to get enough viewers to monetize the programming. He felt content was where the money would be made.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I have noticed in recent years the dual screen where one show's credits roll over the intro of the next show so an extra spot can be tossed in. It's a good idea since it gets the viewer in to the next show in a more passive fashion.

It is a terrible idea except for those people who have a giant screen. Some of us want to be able to read those credits.

 

[b-turner]

Well noted and then add that some of the credits roll so fast that even if you took a speed reading course you couldn't keep up

 

[vchimpanzee]

Well noted and then add that some of the credits roll so fast that even if you took a speed reading course you couldn't keep up

It doesn't work in a motel, but at home I can slow them down.

 

[Pat3]

I've got a great idea. record a short commercial in slow motion. Make it like a silent movie with the dialogue card or subtitles. when people hit the fast forward button they will see it at normal speed.

 

[ansky212]

One hideous thought is "banner" ads, like the internet, in which we will have to tolerate the bottom portion of the screen running sound-less ads, as we're watching something.

WPIX in NYC has been doing this for years on certain shows. I notice it a lot during late night Seinfeld reruns. A big banner ad will pop up at the bottom of the screen to advertise some local business.

 

[vchimpanzee]

TV could follow radio and split their advertising minute into six 10-second blasts making it virtually impossible for the average listener to understand what they've just heard.

They do that anyway sometimes, but the message is delivered at normal speed because it's short.

 

[vchimpanzee]

One hideous thought is "banner" ads, like the internet, in which we will have to tolerate the bottom portion of the screen running sound-less ads, as we're watching something. It would be DVR proof...until somebody invents blocking technology that would block it out.

Gotta love technology.

I've seen it done. They're not on screen constantly.

The animators on "The Simpsons" somehow got permission to include one in a case of breaking the fourth wall and they showed Marge objecting. Every time the episode is repeated, so is the ad. And I don't even remember the show they were promoting.