by: David Polinchock
I wrote about this last July (see Experience Manifesto: Note To FX Network) and it’s getting worse & worse. It’s particularly bad on the cable nets, but I’m sure it’ll eventually move over to major networks as well. As I said in my comment at Adrants, we like to talk about the consumer being in control, but the reality is we can’t wait to take that control away.
Going to fast forward through our commercials? Well, we’ll just put the commercial over your show. That way you can’t miss it at all! Yea, that’s consumer in control thinking. Remember this folks, a people in captivity will always revolt. That revolution is coming folks. It’s coming.
We did it to ourselves. Yes we did. With help from our much-loved DVRs. We started a war. A war between those who want to skip commercial and those who want people to see them no matter what technology exists to skip them. The latest in an increasing list of tactics comes from TBS which is running promotions during programming which involves pausing the show while an ad runs on the lower third of the screen. Right now, it’s just station promos but, seriously, how long before we see paid advertising in this space? We did it to ourselves.
Some have pointed out the intrusive promotions are simply mirroring what’s being promoted; the Bill Engvall show in a TV remote is a prominent plot element. Still. There’s no doubt, after seeing this, every marketer will scream, "I want one!"
Link: DVR Usage to Blame for Idiotic, Invasive Intrusions — Adrants.
Original Post: http://blog.brandexperiencelab.org/experience_manifesto/2008/06/dvr-usage-to-bl.html
