Sponsor's Message

Those folks publishing music and movies have no option (despite their protests) but to bite the bullet and adopt this new technology as a way of improving their profits rather than seeing it as a threat.

But these are not the only industries that will have to have a good long think about their business models in a digital communications age.

Now have your say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums While you're here, why not visit the Aardvark Hall of Shame and perhaps make your own nomination. 7

Now I have to admit that I don't watch a lot of television so perhaps I'm a little more sensitive to the levels of advertising that seem to be the norm these days.

However, a few weeks back I got so frustrated by the duration and frequency of the ad-breaks when watching, that I timed them and was amazed at what I found.

Ad breaks (including programme promos which *I* consider to be advertising even if the broadcasters don't) can sometimes run for up to almost five minutes -- especially when placed in very popular programmes such as Top Gear which screened on Prime TV.

Another trick I've noticed is that broadcasters often give you a reasonable bite at any movie they screen by showing the first 20 minutes or so without a break. I suspect this is to get you hooked into the plot -- but then they wind up the frequency of breaks - sometimes showing as little as six or seven minutes of movie between 4 minute blocks of advertising.

Being a publisher as well as a viewer, I realise that advertising is a necessary evil if you're offering content for free - but has TV now gone just too far over the top?

Ten years ago we'd have had little option but to put up with this level of advertising -- because there were few alternatives, except Sky TV but it appears that even pay TV now carries a hefty level of advertising as well.

The big problem that ad-funded TV broadcasters will have to face is the pending invasion of hard-drive based video recorders with their time-shift and ad-skip capabilities.

Instead of endlessly flicking channels or punching the mute button at 6-8 minute intervals, viewers will now be able to start their recorder going at 6pm and spend an extra couple of hours doing other things while their programmes, ads and all, spool onto the unit's hard-drive.

Then, at perhaps 8pm, you'll be able to sit down on the sofa and start watching (while the unit continues to record). When an ad-break comes up -- punch the skip button and you'll be back to the stuff you want to watch in just a few short seconds.

By 10pm, because you've been jumping over those long and relentless ad-breaks, you'll probably have caught up to "realtime" so you can go make some supper or do something else for half an hour. Returning to the sofa 30 minutes later you'll have another hour's worth of ad-free viewing ahead of you.

As a viewer I think this is *great*!

If I were a heavy TV watcher, I'd get an extra couple of hours each evening to do whatever I wanted -- without missing a single minute of my programmes.

But, if I were a broadcaster, I'd be horrified. Just think -- all those ads going unwatched!

While it might seem unlikely that this kind of viewer activity might commonplace in the wider population, I'm betting you that it's only a matter of time (perhaps a couple of years max) before it becomes the norm.

So what can broadcasters do about this?

Well my guess is that they'll react just like the music and movie industries have -- they'll try to introduce technology that reduces the consumer's right to control their content. We'll see a push for broadcast flags that expressly stop viewers from skipping ads on recorded programmes. We might even see the TV equivalent of those awful web-page pop-ups -- I'm talking about the heinously irritating little banners that will appear on the bottom or corner of your screen promoting something. Prime TV is already using these to advertise up-coming programmes -- and it stinks!

Could the answer be something as simple as sponsorship -- just like the good old days of radio when individual programmes were sponsored by advertisers who got to have a little spiel at the start of each episode?

Sponsorship might also entitle the advertiser to have a watermark on the screen so as to maintain a presence even during the programme material itself. I for one would not mind an unobtrusive watermark carrying the sponsor's logo, if it meant I wasn't being hit with loud irritating ads every 6-8 minutes.

So, is the current FTA model reaching its best-by date? Are there alternatives to legislating the "you must watch ads" flag into new recorders?

Do you find the levels of advertising on FTA TV simply too high?

Tell us all and see what others have to say in The Aardvark Forums

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!