Commercials a Thing of the Past?
Like the weather, everybody always complains about TV commercials, but nobody ever does anything about them. Or do they? Even though TV ads have been a largely unfortunate and omnipresent fact of life for the past 50 years, it has been an opportune symbiosis for advertisers and broadcasters. The TV stations are in the business of delivering eyeballs to advertisers. So the admeisters receive the attention of those eyeballs, station suits get cash and viewers get seemingly free entertainment. Neat. But technology could soon swoop in and change all that.
The comfy-cozy relationship between TV broadcasters and their advertisers is in jeopardy, and no matter how well we edit those TV spots, they could go away once and for all. Even so, there will still be spots for us to edit. They just won't be on TV, not as we know it. What's the poison that will quell this cacophony of carnival barkers who pay the freight for all commercial TV? One word: TiVo. Or, one of its noteworthy competitors, ReplayTV which takes this ad-killing blasphemy a step further by actually being capable of editing out those commercials on the fly. These two frontrunners are all part of a quietly-growing group of devices known as personal video recorders, or PVRs. I use a TiVo, and I can vouch for the awesome power of this technology. It can truly change your life by freeing you from the bonds of network TV schedules. And from commercials. [an error occurred while processing this directive] Accordingly, the networks are getting nervous about these boxes -- not that they didn't see this coming. They actually invested in the recorders in a can't-beat-'em-join-'em move a few years ago. The networks made a deal with TiVo early-on that included a stipulation that TiVo eliminate a commercial-skip feature (Psst! TiVo users: Want to add that 30-second Commercial Skip feature back? Hit this secret sequence of buttons on your TiVo remote: Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select and then your Advance button jumps forward 30 seconds with each push). Now the networks are suing SonicBlue, makers of ReplayTV, because it can not only skip the ads automatically, it can (slowly) send recorded programs to other ReplayTV users. The horror! The sacrilege!
Why aren't these boxes in every household, if they're so great? Consumers don't understand what life-changing magic vessels these things really are. They're hard to explain, and perhaps, ironically, their companies' TV commercials aren't pervasive or persuasive enough to make the sale. But no matter. The boxes will spread far and wide, given time and lots of positive word-of-mouth buzz. It's inevitable. And then, the public will be free, once and for all, from ever watching television commercials, ever again.
Really? Not so fast. I think there are a lot of commercials people like. You know how people say one thing but do another? For example, it's hard to find somebody who says they actually like TV commercials. But mention a humorous or poignant spot you've seen lately, and watch their eyes light up. You'll hear them saying, "Oh, I love that one!" Not "like it" -- they "love it." How many products can you name that actually inspire people to profess their love? (I know, I know, Mac fanatics, no email necessary on that one). Another example: Sit with a friend during the Super Bowl and see what part of the broadcast is more entertaining to her. Everyone in the room roars with laughter at many of the commercials, and some viewers (especially most of the women) aren't interested in anything on the tube but the commercials. The game comes back on, and some eyes glaze over, while others engage in conversations not relating to football at all. Oh, yeah, and there's one guy over there in the corner who is actually watching the game.
1 2 Next
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
