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TV ads getting worse by the month.
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Posted by: jchan

I'm relaxing at home watching some shows I haven't been able to keep up with due to late nights at work. I start to see a disturbing advertising trend developing on other channels. I don't think this is due to the "TiVo fear", but more like using all full screen ad time for paying customers rather than the channel promotion.

But what I see (and hear):

- During 24 on FX I see a "Lucky" ad 1/8th the screen size (read: HUGE). Not only that, but it also makes SOUNDS!

- Also on FX in a similar theme, the showing of True Lies. Huge, and makes noise.

- During Enterprise on UPN, the episode "screen" shrinks to about 3/4 size with a blue border around it desribing some crappy contest with their new show "Platinum".

- TNN = explained before.

This is just utter crap. Paying for channels a la carte similar to premium channels won't help with this either...it's same station (or sister network) ads only so far. I can't wait until we see digitally altered film to have the cola of the month inserted a la Truman Show.

You know, I like the shows, but am starting to really feel the pain of the channels.

This reminds me of why I stopped listening to the radio on my 25 minute commute to/from work...I never hear any music.

Posted by: EchoBravo

TV shows are expensive to produce. TV networks are expensive to run. People bitch about the intrusion of clutter on their screen, but would no doubt bitch more if all the basic cable channels went pay cable.

I hate the ads, too... But realize it's a business first.

More offensive to me are idiotic :30 commercials. Ugly fortysomethings singing and dancing over Michaelena's frozen dinners, anyone? What about the DQ spot with those two twentysomething morons... Or any commercial with Snapple bottles acting like actual people.

Posted by: daperlman

quote:
Originally posted by jchan
I'm relaxing at home watching some shows I haven't been able to keep up with due to late nights at work. I start to see a disturbing advertising trend developing on other channels. I don't think this is due to the "TiVo fear", but more like using all full screen ad time for paying customers rather than the channel promotion.

But what I see (and hear):

- During 24 on FX I see a "Lucky" ad 1/8th the screen size (read: HUGE). Not only that, but it also makes SOUNDS!

- Also on FX in a similar theme, the showing of True Lies. Huge, and makes noise.

- During Enterprise on UPN, the episode "screen" shrinks to about 3/4 size with a blue border around it desribing some crappy contest with their new show "Platinum".

- TNN = explained before.

This is just utter crap. Paying for channels a la carte similar to premium channels won't help with this either...it's same station (or sister network) ads only so far. I can't wait until we see digitally altered film to have the cola of the month inserted a la Truman Show.

You know, I like the shows, but am starting to really feel the pain of the channels.

This reminds me of why I stopped listening to the radio on my 25 minute commute to/from work...I never hear any music.

None of those promos appear on HD locals just the stupid logos

Posted by: sguthrie

quote:
Originally posted by EchoBravo
More offensive to me are idiotic :30 commercials. Ugly fortysomethings singing and dancing over Michaelena's frozen dinners, anyone? What about the DQ spot with those two twentysomething morons... Or any commercial with Snapple bottles acting like actual people.

How about ANY Dr. Pepper commercial? That one in the bowling alley makes me want to swear off TV for ever.

Posted by: Beavis

quote:
Originally posted by EchoBravo
TV shows are expensive to produce. TV networks are expensive to run. People bitch about the intrusion of clutter on their screen, but would no doubt bitch more if all the basic cable channels went pay cable.

I hate the ads, too... But realize it's a business first.

You're exactly correct. It's about $...nothing more, really. :(

Posted by: NJChris

quote:
Originally posted by EchoBravo
[B]TV shows are expensive to produce. TV networks are expensive to run. People bitch about the intrusion of clutter on their screen, but would no doubt bitch more if all the basic cable channels went pay cable.

I hate the ads, too... But realize it's a business first.

Right, and a business should realize by alienating it's consumers/viewers, they will lose $$. Using the excuse of "it's a business" is garbage, IMHO. Of course they are out to make money... does that mean cars we buy should have ads plaster on the outside too? How about furniture? Maybe during movies (instead of just before them now). Oh.. it's a business.. they have to make money, so it's OK.

So, they increase commercial time inbetween scenes of shows.. now they put the ads IN the shows *AND WITH SOUND!!*... give me a break.

Posted by: Bryanmc

quote:
Originally posted by NJChris
Right, and a business should realize by alienating it's consumers/viewers, they will lose $$. Using the excuse of "it's a business" is garbage, IMHO. Of course they are out to make money... does that mean cars we buy should have ads plaster on the outside too? How about furniture? Maybe during movies (instead of just before them now). Oh.. it's a business.. they have to make money, so it's OK.

So, they increase commercial time inbetween scenes of shows.. now they put the ads IN the shows *AND WITH SOUND!!*... give me a break.

Preach on brother man!

I don't watch Lucky simply because of that stupid logo. That's the only reason.

I'd cast off FX all together except I'm addicted to Buffy.

Posted by: Attack

quote:
Originally posted by jchan

- During Enterprise on UPN, the episode "screen" shrinks to about 3/4 size with a blue border around it desribing some crappy contest with their new show "Platinum".

This must have been your local UPN station doing this ad, since I didn't see anything like this on last nights Enterprise

Posted by: JYoung

quote:
Originally posted by EchoBravo
TV shows are expensive to produce. TV networks are expensive to run. People bitch about the intrusion of clutter on their screen, but would no doubt bitch more if all the basic cable channels went pay cable.

I hate the ads, too... But realize it's a business first.

When Jaime Kellner was ranting on last year about how PVR users are "breaking their contract" by not watching commercials, he stated that it would cost $250 per year for a person to watch commercial free TV.
I'm willing to pay that.

Posted by: allan

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
When Jaime Kellner was ranting on last year about how PVR users are "breaking their contract" by not watching commercials, he stated that it would cost $250 per year for a person to watch commercial free TV.
I'm willing to pay that.

The problem is, you'd probably pay that AND they'd insert commercials. :(

Posted by: KRS

Heh - I am surprised noone has mentioned American Idol's style of advertising. It's almost retro, really - the host promotes other Fox shows, the contestants sing Ford commercials and have Coke moments - heck, they even have a room styled after the Coke logo!
Survivor did some of this too (Mt. Dew/Visa/Aztec/Doritos/etc), but I guess reality shows can take it a lot further than a drama or sitcom.

It's getting so bad that I don't know what to FFWD anymore!

Posted by: kyote

I probably wouldn't mind this as much. More show and less commercials. If companies want to pay for some ad placement (star drinking a Pepsi for instance) then that'd be cool. It's have to be less insane then car commercials. I haven't seen a auto dealer's ad that I like yet.

quote:
Originally posted by KRS
Heh - I am surprised noone has mentioned American Idol's style of advertising. It's almost retro, really - the host promotes other Fox shows, the contestants sing Ford commercials and have Coke moments - heck, they even have a room styled after the Coke logo!
Survivor did some of this too (Mt. Dew/Visa/Aztec/Doritos/etc), but I guess reality shows can take it a lot further than a drama or sitcom.

It's getting so bad that I don't know what to FFWD anymore!

Posted by: jwjody

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
When Jaime Kellner was ranting on last year about how PVR users are "breaking their contract" by not watching commercials, he stated that it would cost $250 per year for a person to watch commercial free TV.
I'm willing to pay that.

I read somewhere that they do something like this in Britain. I think...there's a fee you pay when you buy a TV and that fee is what keeps them from showing commercials. If you've ever watched Coupling it's 40 minutes here because BBCA has to put in 10 minutes of commercials to fit with our business model.

I could be wrong about the above, maybe the article I read didn't know what was going on.

But I'ld pay a yearly subscription fee for no commercials.

J

Posted by: trainman

quote:
Originally posted by jwjody
I read somewhere that they do something like this in Britain. I think...there's a fee you pay when you buy a TV and that fee is what keeps them from showing commercials. If you've ever watched Coupling it's 40 minutes here because BBCA has to put in 10 minutes of commercials to fit with our business model.

Actually, it's a yearly fee, and it only provides funding for the BBC channels (two analog over-the-air channels and a handful of others on digital TV/satellite/cable). All the other over-the-air and cable/satellite channels in Britain do have commercials...although as I understand it, they have fewer and shorter commercial breaks than we do here in the U.S.

Posted by: narcisse

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
When Jaime Kellner was ranting on last year about how PVR users are "breaking their contract" by not watching commercials, he stated that it would cost $250 per year for a person to watch commercial free TV.
I'm willing to pay that.

Absolutely! Most people would. I might even go as high as a thousand to subsidize three other people who wouldn't.

This is all providing NBC doesn't break into a pledge drive during sweeps and offer me the latest Brokaw book and a peacock bumper sticker in exchange for my 250 bucks.

Posted by: KRS

Speaking of Brokaw - did anyone hear his on air blunder from April 24th? He was trying to get the words "tax cuts" out near the end of a segment, and accidentally iNserted aN extra letter iNto the word "cuts," giving it aN eNtirely differeNt meaNiNg...

There was a split second where you could see him realize what had just come out - priceless.

Posted by: cwoody222

Strangely enough I just noticed this week that Days of Our Lives ran for most (all?) of the show with NOTHING on it...not even the transparent "NBC Peacock". I'm sure my local channel inserted the weather and time every 15 minutes (because I NEED to know the current temperature every 15 minutes while watching a soap opera!) but I was shocked the NBC logo wasn't there.

I'll have to pay closer attention during the whole hour next time to see what's up.

Posted by: headroll

I remember when we didn't even have the station logo in the corner.

Strange thing is that the logo sometimes obstructs something that should be seen for plot.

-Roll

Posted by: JimSpence

I seem to remember that HBO was the first channel to use a logo in the corner. It was used for a few seconds every x number of minutes so that people who taped the movie couldn't make copies and sell them. It acted like a copyright notice to prevent piracy. I can live with that, but why have the logo on screen 24/7, except during commercials, so we can remember what channel we're watching.

I also refuse to watch Lucky because of the bottom banner ads which now include sound effects that block out dialogue in the show you're watching.

Posted by: kyote

Speaking of bad ads, I just saw Fireside Dodge's new ad ripping off the Matrix. Really Really bad. (SHUDDER)

Posted by: TheDewAddict

I used to get so pissed off at MTV for pulling this stuff. During RW/RR Battle of the Sexes, during a challenge,they will flash the current best time/score/etc on the screen. Sometimes their stupid promos would come on and obscure the time/score/etc, and by the time the promo is done, they've taken the score/whatever off screen. I don't mind the little black banner that some stations put on the bottom of the screen, as long as they shrink the picture above the banner. Its when the stations just cover up what is on screen that I really hate!!!!!

Posted by: dcheesi

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
When Jaime Kellner was ranting on last year about how PVR users are "breaking their contract" by not watching commercials, he stated that it would cost $250 per year for a person to watch commercial free TV.
I'm willing to pay that.

Err, I assume this was for one channel, right? I already pay more than that for basic cable every year. . .