FOX’s feeble attempts to discourage DVR fast-forwarding
This post was published 3 years 1 month 15 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.FOX attempts to thwart DVR users with a silent image? What is it with networks failing to understand that the very DVR consoles that I’m sure they use at their own household are also in use in millions of other television rooms?
U.K. advertisements for Fox’s new drama, “Brotherhood,” which premieres in Britain in October, simply shows an image of Providence, R.I., where the show is set, and the program’s logo. Viewers fast-forwarding through the ad would see the image for a few seconds; those watching it normally would hear dialogue from the show in the background.
Jon Hollett, a Fox International spokesman, said the company was experimenting with ways to get its messages to DVR users who routinely breeze through ads without antagonizing real-time viewers by broadcasting a flat, silent image for thirty seconds.
I can not personally attest to having ever used a DVR but I do know that a certain a number of people who do. For those that use their TiVO’s or alternative DVR’s, what what are your thoughts on networks experimenting with methods to disuade customers from fast-forwarding through commercials?
Eventually they’ll just leave off the fast-forward button on the remote.
I’m at the point with network television that if they start messing with DVR customers, I’m just going to either download the show, or just stop watching it entirely. My TiVo gets more than enough stuff that I don’t watch, removing a few shows from the lineup won’t kill me.
I don’t think this has anything to do with discouraing DVR users from fastforwarding. It just allows the user to see an ad as they are fast forwarding. Does nothing to discourage you from fast forwarding, it just insures that they still have a chance of getting their ads seen in the fast forward.
I agree with Kyle.
And if I couldn’t get past the commercials, I probably just wouldn’t watch. Back in the day when there were only three commercials in a break, I didn’t mind so much, but anymore, you spend as much time watching ads as the show. Hell, I’m irritated by the amount of time I waste *fast forwarding* through the commercials. Occasionally, I’ll catch an interesting image and stop, but those are rare.
I would echo the sentiments above. I have been using TiVo for about 5 years now and I just don’t watch TV if I have to sit through commercials. I don’t mind the creative attemps to lure DVR users back to watching commercials though as long as the functionality to skip commercials remains. The Sprite and GE commercials where the frames become a fraction of a second long so that you can only see them using the step feature on a DVR are quite creative in that they are essentially advertising only to DVR (or VCR) viewers.
they aren’t trying to stop you from fort forwarding through it, they are actually trying to make fast forwarded media still marketable, when you fast forward through a clip of video, you see flashs, bangs, and zips…. if you fast forward through a still image, you see a still image…. basically this is the same idea as a billboard on a highway, your flying past it, and can’t possibly learn anything from it, but you will look at it, maybe remember a number, of laugh at it slogan, “Eat Mor Chiken” kinda stuff. Its really a good idea on the networks part, this was lost media money before, because a trail of bips, flashs and zips = wasted advertisement, but a 4 second flicker of a sill image may just be enough to get your curiosity peeked, maybe even enough so you hit play, or dare I say… rewind?!
I think the slap in the face here is for the non DVR users, who the hell wants to sit and look at a still image playing sounds to scenes you can’t see… its not radio, its television for god sake, I think the next wave will be the still image as a holder for the clips, it seems like the only feasible middle ground.
I agree with the overall sentiment conveyed above.
It’s funny that people get so flustered when ads interrupt television show, when you consider that =THE ONLY= reason the show exists in the first place, is as a vehicle for the ads. If the ads didn’t exist, the shows wouldn’t either.
Yeah I do not own a DVR becuase i pay enough with the digital cable and HDTV (i’m a college student for gods sake, money doesnt grow on trees, and if it did i would be too poor to buy the seeds, haha). And i sure as hell do not want to watch a still image on the screen. Imagine the deaf people watching, they will think their television froze.
I sometimes see a commercial that has silent parts, or one time even all silent (a 9/11 memorial ad did that once) and I thaught to myself that is a very effective way of advertising. If you are not paying attention to the TV during commercial breaks and that ad comes up, you will wonder why you are not hearing anything, and be forced to look at the tv.
Oh and back to this. A still image for thirty seconds? I think that is loo long for having nothing moving!
I agree. It’s not really “fair” for those of us who don’t use DVRs.
When I was still doing commercial production, I had to make a five-second spot for Armistice Day (which, I learned, is celebrated by pretty much every country in the world except the U.S.). I kept it really clean and simple, which I felt was a fitting tribute to those who died. It featured our logo (which was required), a red maple leaf, a red poppy, and some black text (I can’t remember what it said), all on a white background. I made the spot with absolutely no audio at all (Armistice Day is often celebrated with two minutes of silence at 11am as a sign of respect) and was surprised that they let it hit the air that way. But when it did air, it really grabbed your attention.
Seems like a great idea for an ad, not nearly as annoying to ignore. Of course, I’ve had a Replay for the past seven years, so the only time I see anything besides the last four seconds of an ad before a show resumes (god bless the “30-second-skip” button!) is when I’ve visiting my mother. And SHE really ought to buy a DVR, she’s in her 70s, and doesn’t have time to waste!!