Thursday, September 21, 2006

Man vs Machine

Okay, so humans invented television. And television commercials. And then a machine to skip over television commercials. And now we're attempting to outsmart a machine designed to outsmart these 'intrusive' advertisements... Is that funny to anyone else?

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Fox is running a 30-second television spot with just one static image in an effort to reach viewers who fast-forward through ads using digital video recorders like TiVos. 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. "This is something that is going to have to be addressed one way or the other," he said. "Making sure that you can get to your viewers when they're fast forwarding ... is of crucial importance."

Television executives fear the new technology could make ad-supported free programming obsolete. In the United States, DVR users could dodge as much as $8 billion of the $74 billion in television ads shown this year, according to Jupiter Research, a technology consulting company.

Advertisers also have begun experimenting. Earlier this year, KFC Corp. promised coupons at its restaurants to viewers who could identify a secret code only visible when its commercials were replayed in slow motion. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C214847%2C00.html)

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Ever feel like people are getting TOO smart? We're just coming up with too many gadgets, and the poor advertising industry is scurrying to keep up. (Why is it that people are upset when the automotive industry cuts factory jobs, but no one ever feels sorry for advertising executives who lost their jobs? We have families to feed too! Well... We have manicures and shoes to purchase! We keep the economy in motion, dammit.)

Suddenly, someone's going to have this amazing idea that media and entertainment would be less intrusive if we could hear it but not see it... Brilliant! We'll call it... THE RADIO.

L

4 Comments:

At September 21, 2006 12:07 PM, Blogger ka said...

Oh yeah, baby. Radio is where it's at. We're EVERYWHERE and still one of the most popular mediums to use because we're just so darn handy! And don't get me going on satellite radio. It's just a fad meant for fat truckers who travel through varying time zones. You need local radio to know what time it is where you are so you know whether or not you have time to stop at Starbucks before work (or if you should just roll over and go back to bed to avoid the snowstorm)... :)

 
At September 21, 2006 1:22 PM, Blogger Lindsay said...

Yeah, I knew you'd like that one... But the truth is, radio is just plain cheap advertising :P

L

 
At September 21, 2006 1:23 PM, Blogger Lindsay said...

And there is ALWAYS time to stop for coffee before work.

L

 
At September 21, 2006 2:13 PM, Blogger ka said...

Cheap, but intrusive. That's what makes it so darn effective. Plus, it keeps ugly people employed and off the streets (not me, but the people I work with). What does tv do but make you feel ugly and inferior?

 

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