TV Networks Look For More Ways To Screen Ads
source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090803/ap_en_ot/us_tec_more_ads_on_tv
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"Coming soon to your TV: More advertising, in places you might not expect.
The ads are showing up where people used to enjoy a break from advertising, such as video on demand and on-screen channel guides. Even TiVo, which became popular for its technology that lets people skip TV commercials, is developing new ways to show ads.
As a result, you won't necessarily see more traditional, 30-second commercials. Instead, many of the new TV ads will resemble online ads — interactive and often shaped for individual members of the audience. They'll also be harder to ignore. Typically, you can't opt out of seeing them.
The companies behind the latest kind of ads hope they'll especially appeal to advertisers that are increasingly careful with their marketing budgets. In turn the advertisers are betting viewers won't be turned off — as long as the ads pitch products and services tailored to consumers' particular interests.
In a trial that ended last year in Huntsville, Ala., Comcast Corp. found that viewers shown targeted ads watched them 38 percent longer than folks who got less-relevant commercials.
"People like to shop. People like to research products," said Charlie Thurston, president of the advertising sales division at Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV provider. "Where advertising is intrusive is when there's a complete mismatch between product and viewer."
The increased advertising on pay TV services is striking, given that the industry started with scant ads as one way to appeal to subscribers.
TiVo, the creator of the digital video recorder that panicked the TV business by making it simple to skip ads, now flashes banners on TV screens when users pause, fast-forward or delete shows.
Viewers who paused "The Biggest Loser" TV show saw an ad saying "Jenny Craig says you've got more to lose!" If you used TiVo to pause "Iron Chef America" on the Food Network, this popped up: "Sub-Zero: Every cook deserves the best!"
"We were once a foe of the networks, now we've become a friend," said Tara Maitra, TiVo's general manager of content services and ad sales. "We're working with the industry ... to get users to engage in a world increasingly equipped to fast-forward through commercials."
Dave Zatz, a 37-year-old network engineer in Herndon, Va., isn't happy about it because he bought a TiVo digital video recorder and pays a subscription to skip ads.
"It's obnoxious," he said of the ads that appear when a TV program is paused. He said other ads have been on the periphery or appear on the menu page. This is the first time he's noticed TiVo layering an ad on top of an actual program.
He said he's been wondering, "Who are TiVo's customers?" People like him, or advertisers? "They're getting paid on both ends."
One ad buyer was told by TiVo that a "pause" ad costs $20,000 a week with exposure on 15 programs. That would be a bargain by some measures: A 30-second commercial airing once on prime time TV costs about $150,000, on average. TiVo would not confirm its rate, saying that what an advertiser ultimately pays can vary widely, depending on what's negotiated.
Video on demand services — where you can watch movies and TV shows usually with fewer commercial interruptions than broadcast TV — are also expanding as a venue for ads."
The ads are showing up where people used to enjoy a break from advertising, such as video on demand and on-screen channel guides. Even TiVo, which became popular for its technology that lets people skip TV commercials, is developing new ways to show ads.
As a result, you won't necessarily see more traditional, 30-second commercials. Instead, many of the new TV ads will resemble online ads — interactive and often shaped for individual members of the audience. They'll also be harder to ignore. Typically, you can't opt out of seeing them.
The companies behind the latest kind of ads hope they'll especially appeal to advertisers that are increasingly careful with their marketing budgets. In turn the advertisers are betting viewers won't be turned off — as long as the ads pitch products and services tailored to consumers' particular interests.
In a trial that ended last year in Huntsville, Ala., Comcast Corp. found that viewers shown targeted ads watched them 38 percent longer than folks who got less-relevant commercials.
"People like to shop. People like to research products," said Charlie Thurston, president of the advertising sales division at Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV provider. "Where advertising is intrusive is when there's a complete mismatch between product and viewer."
The increased advertising on pay TV services is striking, given that the industry started with scant ads as one way to appeal to subscribers.
TiVo, the creator of the digital video recorder that panicked the TV business by making it simple to skip ads, now flashes banners on TV screens when users pause, fast-forward or delete shows.
Viewers who paused "The Biggest Loser" TV show saw an ad saying "Jenny Craig says you've got more to lose!" If you used TiVo to pause "Iron Chef America" on the Food Network, this popped up: "Sub-Zero: Every cook deserves the best!"
"We were once a foe of the networks, now we've become a friend," said Tara Maitra, TiVo's general manager of content services and ad sales. "We're working with the industry ... to get users to engage in a world increasingly equipped to fast-forward through commercials."
Dave Zatz, a 37-year-old network engineer in Herndon, Va., isn't happy about it because he bought a TiVo digital video recorder and pays a subscription to skip ads.
"It's obnoxious," he said of the ads that appear when a TV program is paused. He said other ads have been on the periphery or appear on the menu page. This is the first time he's noticed TiVo layering an ad on top of an actual program.
He said he's been wondering, "Who are TiVo's customers?" People like him, or advertisers? "They're getting paid on both ends."
One ad buyer was told by TiVo that a "pause" ad costs $20,000 a week with exposure on 15 programs. That would be a bargain by some measures: A 30-second commercial airing once on prime time TV costs about $150,000, on average. TiVo would not confirm its rate, saying that what an advertiser ultimately pays can vary widely, depending on what's negotiated.
Video on demand services — where you can watch movies and TV shows usually with fewer commercial interruptions than broadcast TV — are also expanding as a venue for ads."
