One Possible Solution for DVR Ad-Skipping?

There have been plenty of stories lately about how TiVo and other DVR’s are wreaking havoc with the network advertising industry. One possible solution is to prevent ad-skipping in future DVR products. Bad solution. You can’t solve this problem by forcing people to do something they don’t want to do. Long before DVRs hit the scene we had all grown accustomed to using “commercial breaks” to run to the bathroom, raid the kitchen, etc., so this is nothing new.

This article from cnet sheds light on a new way to attack this problem: make the ads interesting so that people don’t want to miss them. Here’s an interesting quote towards the end:

Networks and advertisers should start taking advantage of the fact that while material is fast-forwarded, consumers can perceive individual frames.

True. In fact, rather than completely missing the message by making that bathroom/kitchen run during any commercial break for the shows I DVR, I hit the fast forward button and wind up seeing bits and pieces of the ads. More often than not I can tell you what products were just featured in the ads, despite the fact that I “skipped” them…

Comments

[Joe Murphy]

Actually, when I'm fast-forwarding through the commercials on my DVR, I frequently conflate 2 or 3 commercials into one. Which suggests a strategy... start writing commercials (maybe for complimentary products) which are supposed to run one after the other and look interesting in fast forward.

A good overall campaign can also make me rewind and watch a specific commercial. The new Mac ads are a good example... an easily identifable style but 4 or 5 different pieces of content.

[Willem]

A long time ago, Mark Cuban suggested Tivo sell ad space on the screen when people are fast-forwarding because people are so focused on the screen then.

We're going to be seeing a lot more product placements within shows, and a lot more "interstitial" advertising. Sports is the perfect example. Now everthing -- the score, highlights, relief pitcher appearances, etc. -- is branded/sponsored.

Of course you're taking advantage of digital and using the 30-second skip feature, not just fast-forwarding like with a VCRs, right?

Tivo 30-sec skip:
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/127787.html

Motorola DVR (Comcast cable and others) 30-sec skip:
http://dcortesi.com/2005/05/04/motorola-dct6412-comcast-dvr-30-second-skip/

[Anders Tomilsson]

This (showing clever ads) certainly isn't new. When attending college 20+ years ago at a small university courses and professors took attendence, I found those who did so had to. Those who didn't had one of two strategies: {1} either they were so fascinating you didn't want to miss their class(es); {2} figuring out what was covered, even following the notes of multiple people, made it nearly impossible to glean enough knowledge when the blue books were passed out.

Providing interesting ads is going to place a horrible burden on any ad agencies because they're able to come up with a Super Bowl quality ad once a year and from there, it decreases significantly.

Besides, it wouldn't take long before the boxen firrmware will have an update providing the means to bypass the garbage without other items interfering from jumping over them. (That's one of the nice things about the LinkSys wireless modem which was created which supports many many features (e.g. VPN) beyond what one could expect from the standalone wireless modem.