Placement premiums

Interesting point. I find that I will sometimes go back to watch an ad I'm interested - yesterday I went back to watch an iPod Shuffle ad - but I take great pains to try and see as little of the break's last commercial as I can.

They already do. It is already proven that more people watch them because of vcr recordings, coming back after getting a cup of tea or going to the loo. It is already proven also that hte last advert in the series is the one that sticks in peoples heads most. But have you seen it's now going to be illegal to fast forward ads on tivo?

James beat me to everything to say about this, he's absolutely right, the VCR made this all an issue almost 20 years ago. And advert-driven TV continues, although you'll notice these days that it's all the Premium pay-for channels that are taking home the Emmy's and nobody's watching the Big Four all that much any more.

They probably do already. It's the ad that most people remember, because as it a program gets closer, people pay more attention. What I think may happen is more product placement and/or advertising during the program in the way of overlays, which will be much more annoying.

What would be the point of buying a TiVo if you couldn't skip the commercials?!?!?

This is very true. It is a shift in how viewers consume ads (or marketing), in general. Marketing is changing. People don't want to be interrupted...unless they want to. With movements to mass customization, we (as consumers) can (and should be able to) decide what we is marketed to us. 1. Most of us use filters on email so we don't see the ads that increase the size of this or that appendage. 2. We also use pop-up blocker (or just Firefox) to avoid pop-ups. 3. Many of us are using TiVo to avoid commercials. 4. We use the Internet (and bugmenot.com) to avoid network news. 5. We use iPods/MP3 players and, increasingly, satellite radio to avoid commercial radio and the constant advertising. This is why having an opt-in policy for an advertisement is critical. And, businesses are going to have to move to offer better values. Question: if every time you saw an ad from X business, you got 10% off, would you consider it? Probably...well, probably more so than just listen to "hey, our product is great, come buy it". That's what businesses have to start doing. They need to be offering value (not veneer advertising) every time you see their message. Disclosure: I'm the owner of a company that provides marketing services to businesses who are struggling with this. I'm not chiming in to promote my product (notice that I've included my personal email and not my company web address), but I wanted to contribute my thoughts because I know a few things about this issue. ICQ: 20880403 AIM: mattdono

Tivo already has plans to show banner ads while you skip commercials. http://csimm.blogspot.com/2005/04/final-frontier.html Check out this post on engadget too http://www.engadget.com/entry/4721616738437149/post

I feel there are two different tendencies: somehow we dislike ads and we try to skip it, somehow we need it and we search for it. We often use the axiom (often without noticing it) 'If a brand make many ads it is a good product'. This information helps us to make quicker choices. For example if I am in a store and I want to buy an mp3 player I will be tempted to buy an 'iPod' versus an unknown product having a similar price. Probably because my knowledge on the topic is limited: I replace my 'poor knowledge' with the ads suggestion. About pasta products and sweets I am an 'expert' so I do not care about the brand.

Advertisements generally do not serve to sell one particular product, but to improve the brand image. We do not see an advert and think "oh i want that", but if later on we want that type of thing, we will probably remember that advert. Where companies go wrong is in the type of advertising. The large "Your computer is in danger" bouncing around all over the screen may have got some people to click in the past, but its old news now. And its not real traffic, once the user realises the link was fake they just hit back/close the window. More effective is affliate programs, where you are seeing something recommended by the author of the website you are currently viewing (not just random advertising) and tv ads which just irritate you are similarly ineffective. In this case a funny advert is better, to promote the brand in a good light for later storage. An interesting fact to note is that most moderate internet users do not in fact even notice advertisements anymore, we just skim right over them and straight onto the content. (After checking i noticed that this page had a small advertisement at the top, i didnt even notice it) Personally I think that advertising of almost any type is practically outdated. With the number of TV channels now we can simply skip to the music channels for 5 minutes while the adverts are on. Banner and pop-up ads are simply ignored. Spam is deleted and all it is is a slight inconvinience. Oh and one other thing, ever notice that adverts on TV are louder then your program? :-) wow that was a book. ~Audigex www.audigex.com

Where companies go wrong is in the type of advertising. The large “Your computer is in danger” bouncing around all over the screen may have got some people to click in the past, but its old news now. And its not real traffic, once the user realises the link was fake they just hit back/close the window.