Traditional advertising is making a comeback
Recent studies show that marketers are increasingly turning from online advertising to traditional media such as TV, in part to exploit its high reach. In February 2022, marketers predicted that traditional advertising spending would increase by 2.9%.
However, effective TV advertising requires exposure, which is jeopardized when viewers deliberately avoid ads. For instance, when viewers resort to changing the channel (i.e., zapping) during ad breaks, advertisers lose the ability to communicate the brand message, leading to wasted investment. Zapping is also a problem for broadcasters because it diminishes the attractiveness of the channel for advertisers.
[...] Becker says that "Our results show that the content of ads does indeed influence consumers' zapping behavior. While a high level of creativity in the ads reduces zapping, highly informational content, strong brand presence, and early brand timing increase zapping. Thus, to discourage zapping behavior, managers should invest in creativity and refrain from too much information and branding cues. Furthermore, the brand should be placed more toward the end of the ad."
The researchers also conclude that the effects of advertising content on zapping vary significantly with category characteristics. As Scholdra explains, "We find, for example, that informativeness is more detrimental in terms of zapping for goods where consumers can only judge quality after consumption, or experiential goods like restaurants, than for goods where consumers can judge quality before consumption, or search goods like electronics." The effects of other content factors, are category dependent as well, thereby underscoring the need for managers to consider category characteristics when selecting advertising content.
[...] Results of the second study indicate that content drives zapping through irritation, but not through enjoyment. "For advertisers, it is more important to avoid psychological reactions reflecting irritation, such as annoyance or offense, than to elicit favorable reactions reflecting enjoyment, such as entertainment, or interest" says Berkmann. Informativeness, brand presence, and brand timing drive zapping by triggering irritation and creativity mitigates zapping by reducing it.
Journal Reference:
Maren Becker, Thomas P. Scholdra, Manuel Berkmann, The Effect of Content on Zapping in TV Advertising, J Marketing, 2022. DOI: 10.1177/00222429221105818
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If you're looking to buy a TV in 2025, you may be disappointed by the types of advancements TV brands will be prioritizing in the new year. While there's an audience of enthusiasts interested in developments in tech like OLED, QDEL, and [Micro LED], plus other features like transparency and improved audio, that doesn't appear to be what the industry is focused on.
Today's TV selection has a serious dependency on advertisements and user tracking.
[...] One of the most impactful changes to the TV market next year will be Walmart owning Vizio. For Walmart, the deal, which closed on December 3 for approximately $2.3 billion, is about owning the data collection capabilities of Vizio's SmartCast OS.
[...] In 2025, buying a Vizio TV won't just mean buying a TV from a company that's essentially an ad business. It will mean fueling Walmart's ad business. With Walmart also owning Onn and Amazon owning Fire TVs, that means there's one less TV brand that isn't a cog in a retail giant's ever-expanding ad machine.
[...] Further, Walmart has expressed a goal of becoming one of the 10 biggest ad companies, with the ad business notably having higher margins than groceries. It could use Vizio, via more plentiful and/or intrusive ads, to fuel those goals.
And Walmart's TV market share is set to grow in the new year. Paul Gray, research director of consumer electronics and devices at Omdia, told Ars Technica he expects that "the new combined sales (Vizio plus Walmart's white label) will be bigger than the current market leader Samsung."
[...] 'Walmart has told you by buying Vizio that these large retailers need a connected television advertising platform to tie purchases to," Martin told Bloomberg. "That means Target and other large retailers have that reason to buy Roku to tie Roku's connected television ad units to their sales in their retail stores. And by the way, Roku has much higher margins than any retailer.'"
[...] TV brands have become so dependent on ads that some are selling TVs at a loss to push ads. How did we get to the point where TV brands view their hardware as a way to track and sell to viewers? Part of the reason TV OSes are pushing the limits on ads is that many viewers seem willing to accept them, especially in the name of saving money.
[...]Still, analysts agree that even among more expensive TV brands, there has been a shift toward building out ad businesses and OSes over improving hardware features like audio.
"This is a low-margin business, and even in the premium segment, the revenues from ads and data are significant. Also, the sort of consumer who buys a premium TV is likely to be especially interesting to advertisers," Gray said.
[...] In 2025, TVs will continue focusing innovation around software, which has immediate returns via ad sales compared to new hardware, which can take years to develop and catch on with shoppers. For some, this is creating a strong demand for dumb TVs, but unfortunately, there are no immediate signs of that becoming a trend.
As Horner put it, "This is an advertising/e-commerce-driven market, not a consumer-driven market. TV content is just the bait in the trap."
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(Score: 5, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Monday July 18 2022, @05:58PM (7 children)
and even while I get most of my video content from YT, there's the yt enhancer plugin that kills most ads and the plugins really make the raw internet so much more tolerable.
advertisers? they are still out there? I would never know it.
life is so much better with the right kind of blockers. we like to shield ourselves from crap. ads are crap. no other way to sugarcoat it.
as long as there are good blockers and filters, you guys can do what you want - but you are not reaching me and fortunately, you are not BOTHERING me.
I know I (we) are in the minority, and its too bad that most people dont know how to configure filters like this.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 4, Informative) by Nuke on Monday July 18 2022, @06:19PM (5 children)
I stopped watching YouTube because of the mid-stream 3rd party ads that were still in your way if you tried to skip over them. But then I discovered the blocker for them and I now watch YouTube again. I can tolerate in-line ads at the start or end as you can either skip them or watch them if you like that sort of thing.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Monday July 18 2022, @06:21PM (4 children)
yt enhancer (I think that's the plugin) shows red and green bars on the bottom of the video and there are ways to crowsource where the ads are so that it skips them. its either that plugin or another (sponsor block or something).
I almost never see ads on yt anymore.
that, and the yt-dl app that is like a wget for yt, that hits the spot ;)
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday July 18 2022, @08:24PM (2 children)
I only watch the "message from our sponsor" kinds of ads that the content hosts actually do. Partly due to the fact that they keep them very short and far between.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Informative) by Freeman on Monday July 18 2022, @08:26PM
I use uBlock Origin. Due to the fact that the internet is the High Seas and you're either a pirate with a cannon or you're prey.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday July 21 2022, @05:53PM
Also they tend to be very relevant. Everyone I see on YT who designs his own circuit boards seems to be sponsored by JLCPCB.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday July 19 2022, @03:29AM
I've had good results with just an ad blocker. Ublock Origin blocks all the ads on YouTube.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Tuesday July 19 2022, @01:11AM
Just watch YouTube in Brave. No adds, no fuss, no plugins needed.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Funny) by Snotnose on Monday July 18 2022, @06:00PM (5 children)
I mute commercials. Have ever since I cut the cord and lost my DVR. Prior to that I fast forwarded them, both with the DVR and the VCR before that.
You want to get creative and hold my interest in the first few seconds? Good luck with that. I've had over 50 years to learn ad avoidance and I don't care what's in your first few seconds (well, maybe titties) you're gonna get muted.
Things That Piss Me Off. Why is it that I mute/unmute with different hands? Even when I mentally yell "SNOT USE THE LEFT HAND", odds are I still have to flip the remote around because I last hit the mute button with the other hand.
First world problems.
Of course I'm against DEI. Donald, Eric, and Ivanka.
(Score: 5, Informative) by RS3 on Monday July 18 2022, @07:20PM (4 children)
I usually mute, unless I'm watching 2 or 3 shows, then the commercial prompts hitting the "jump" button. But I'm never really glued to the TV, it's usually kind of in the background.
What makes me mute a commercial the fastest: commercials that are louder than the TV show.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Tuesday July 19 2022, @01:49AM (2 children)
Loud annoyance...
That is guaranteed to make me dive for the mute button!
The only problem, if you can call it that, is I start doing something else and completely forget about the TV, and it eventually times out and shuts off on its own.
I don't even mean this as a complaint. It's just the way things are. TV time is so low on my valuation of my time it doesn't take much to abort the link to something else. Almost anything else.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 19 2022, @05:22AM
What gets me is those menus where I have to go through a song and dance to set up for a volume change, hit the wrong button several times, finally get it right, then have to do it again.
Muting, or powering down, is often done in the panic of getting the thing to hush, NOW!
By that time, I am hardly receptive to anyone's message. I am more in a state of mind upon discovering someone purposefully came up and banged a bunch of pots and pans behind me.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 19 2022, @06:11AM
I wonder if anyone is compiling metrics on which ads result in a zap?
Maybe the ad agencies have no idea how annoying their messages are getting?
I don't think I've ever zapped a Colace ad , but I will zap that face powder ad on sight.
Colace ads are short and humorous reminders they make stool softener.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday July 20 2022, @04:02PM
I forgot to add: besides loud commercials, fast-talking, certain types of voices, certain inflections, etc., are super annoying and will get the mute button.
99% of the time I listen to TV (sometimes other things) using a wonderful pair of wireless headphones. There's a little volume knob on one side- not annoying digital pushbuttons for volume control, but a real knob that's super quick to adjust. And on the other side is power switch. Either is much easier and quicker to use to mute the audio, rather than fumble with a remote control.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 18 2022, @06:01PM (10 children)
No one who matters was listening, so they lost nothing.
Why is it that the world presumes that we are beholden to advertisers? We don't owe them time or attention. We owe them nothing. It would please me to no end if advertisers suddenly start going bankrupt. One after another, they just fold, and fade into bad memories.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 5, Insightful) by HiThere on Monday July 18 2022, @08:38PM (9 children)
Sorry, but it *is* a real problem. The advertisers pay to provide access that is used. Without them a lot of stuff would just go away, much of it things that many people like. This doesn't mean that I think advertising is a good solution, but micropayments didn't take off.
OTOH, most of what the advertisers fund is stuff I wouldn't watch as a gift (and don't). But there ARE the exceptions.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Opportunist on Monday July 18 2022, @09:14PM (6 children)
And that in turn is the problem with TV, or rather, the quality of TV.
Networks are of course trying to get the most money out of their broadcast time. That means, programs as cheap as possible for as many viewers as possible, so they can sell ads that correspond with the relevant number of viewers. Unfortunately, that means it can actually be more profitable to produce cheap crap, even if you attract fewer viewers than some blockbuster movie, it may still mean that you make more money that way.
This is what gets us "scripted reality TV" and similar bullshit, simply because the unemployables they use as props (I refuse to call these people "actors") are dirt cheap and filling half an hour of program costs barely 1000 bucks. Compared to a magnitude more for some real instead of reality program, the latter would have to attract a LOT more viewers to make up the difference.
So everyone now does it. The TV program is an insult to the intelligence of even the average idiot still watching, but there is no escape. That crap runs on every network now.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Monday July 18 2022, @09:21PM (1 child)
Most ads treat viewers as complete idiots, which is one of the reasons I can't tolerate them.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Opportunist on Monday July 18 2022, @09:21PM
I couldn't say, I haven't really seen one in years.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Tuesday July 19 2022, @07:53AM (3 children)
Personally, I do not need any premium content on TV. It's been decades since I planned anything around a TV show. And with the on demand technologies we have today, no way will I plan around TV schedules.
I think TV is exactly where it should be. Airing re-runs. Nostalgia. Background entertainment. I even actually enjoy seeing the old ads on the old game shows I watched with Grandma and Grandpa. Dick Stark and his boy pitching Remington Rand typewriters, shavers, and business machines. Those old Anacin ads. Even the old Suave shampoo ads. This was 50+ years ago. I still use Anacin and Suave. I am over 70.
If I see an old rerun, yeh, I am game. What's My Line,. To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret.
Ads and all. Wouldn't be the same without the old ads. That is a replay of old childhood memories. And some, not many, but some, of those companies are still around. Just wish they wouldn't change their logos. Is it just me, or do others still like their products packaged just like they were when you first got used to them?
I still use Anacin, but somehow it doesn't seem the same if it doesn't come out of a box that was just like the box mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and my aunt's and uncles had.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Tuesday July 19 2022, @04:27PM (2 children)
That's actually a really good marketing idea. When your brand turns a decade birthday, introduce a "special vintage edition", old style packaging and all. OK, maybe not for Ben's Original (formerly Uncle Ben's) or Sarotti chocolates ... but most other brands would actually stand out with the vintage style.
And a lot of people, not just old people, go for nostalgia. The soap brand that mom used to use when you were a kid, with that special shape or that box with the 70s style art... Yeah, I could see people want that.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday July 20 2022, @12:26AM (1 child)
Yup, especially if some company is really proud of 50 years or more of service.
I used to really enjoy going to Watson's Drug Store, for an old school shake, prepared the old school way by a real properly trained soda jerk, or maybe a bromide, and get rung up on their huge brass National cash register.
They still have that old cash register on display. But they don't use it. Something to do with laws and modern accounting requirements.
Oh, gawd, I miss Grandpa's farm and the way of life I knew as a kid. I don't know how today's kids are taking all this crap out society is expecting of them.
I got a chance to be a kid. On a farm. With real parents, church, and community. Not some bulk raised commodity. I don't think I would have survived.
Alcohol, guns, very potent explosives. Very common on a farm. I never wanted for anything. As far back as I can remember, I was family. Just as entitled ( and responsible ) to anything anyone else had, except driving the car off grandpa's land.
I liked to play with the dynamite. Grandpa always knew where an old stump was, or some rock was that in the way. Off we would go and go boom boom.
Please forgive the ramblings of an old man reliving his childhood, as this forum reignited a lot of old memories. Times have changed, and I am still living in a world that no longer is. I understand why we are having such a problem with drugs. I did not need any. But then, I didn't have to put up with today's hyper competitive stressors. Being a good old boy, trying to be useful in my community, was all that was expected of me. I could do that.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Wednesday July 20 2022, @10:44AM
(emphasis mine)
That's the difference to today. We don't want to be responsible for anything. Because OMG, Johnny blew his thumb off because he was stupid enough to think he could hold the gun closed with it, sue the manufacturer!
Back where I'm from, we learned oxyacetylene welding when we were like 12. Was a kind of rite of passage. There was this old mechanic that took care of that. You went there, and there's been boys aged 12 to about 20 at any time of the day. He had a scrap yard and he taught you how cars work. We repaired a lot and ruined much more, but he didn't seem to give two shits, it was all junk anyway. Try to tell anyone today you're teaching welding to a 12 year old kid. They'll look at you like you're some mad man. But believe it or not, there were no fatalities. Burns, yes. Hell, plenty of them. With the occasional trip to the doc or even the hospital. If you think anyone got sued for that, you'd be mistaken. If anything, the parents would just go "don't cry, was your own stupidity. You wanted it, better watch out".
That's the difference. Today, kids get packed into bubble wrap 'til they're 18, then they're dumped into the world and we wonder why they can't function properly in society.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday July 19 2022, @12:28AM
There are other viable business models, though, like "People subscribe to a service to experience the artwork" or "People who want to support particular artistic creations chip in to pay for it". So it's not like the thing can't exist without those poor unfortunate advertisers.
The fact is that advertising is entirely unnecessary. It's the higher-class version of spam emails: The vast majority of people who have to experience the ad don't want whatever they're selling, but the advertisers know that they only need a relatively small number of takers to make it worth it.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 19 2022, @02:25PM
It is, but it's also the result of the advertisers having too much of a say in programming. If they had only had the same number of ads as they did in the '70s, didn't go to such lengths to lie and actually generated helpful ads, people might still watch them. But, having so many commercials during the course of a half hour program and most of those ads being complete BS and super annoying is just asking to get blocked. They'd likely get more people watching the ads if they went back to the ad blocks they used to have as most of the ads in the middle just don't get watched.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday July 18 2022, @07:58PM (4 children)
The thing is that you are competing with the toilet for the attention of the viewer during the ad break. And if you think your ad can be more interesting than the pressure in the bladder ... good luck.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 18 2022, @09:07PM (3 children)
I've been in bars where they've moved the ads into the toilets (at least a screen over the urinal - I didn't check to see whether there was one in the stalls). The ones at the gas pump are very annoying (GSTV: Gas Station TV) because they are loud, and the content repeats too quickly that you've heard the same damn thing 4 or 5 times or more before you're done.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday July 18 2022, @09:19PM
Could never fly in the bars I went to when I was young. When I'm pissing, I don't want someone yakking. Combine that with people there being at the very least a bit intoxicated and you can start a betting pool after how many hours that thing got ripped apart by someone who is drunk and strong enough.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 19 2022, @08:00AM
Maybe they will make a game of it, played by aiming the pee in the urinal? If you take too long, you get a urolift ad. Pee a lot, get a promo for more beer!
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday July 20 2022, @12:06AM
Distracting people while they're filling their gas tank--what could possibly go wrong?
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday July 18 2022, @09:38PM
...brand message, ...diminishes the attractiveness of the channel ...brand presence, ...brand timing...branding cues...informativeness....
BINGO!!
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday July 20 2022, @02:01AM
It's more than that. TV commercials have certain tells that haven't changed for at least 50 years. First, there's the obvious step-up in volume. Second, there's a cadence to speech in commercials that's a dead give-away. Third, there is always the knowing tone of the narration. If you hear any or all of those, and it only takes a split second before the ad-avoidance triggers and the audience clicks away.
Audiences, too, have become ad-resistant and distracted in general. Part of that is the avoidance behaviors mentioned above, and part is the second-screen phenomenon, ie., people surfing on their phones, tablets, or laptops while the TV is on. It's why TV shows produced in our modern era spend so much of their time slot recapping what happened before the commercial breaks. It results in a two steps forward, one step back rhythm that exasperates the viewer.
Product placements or show sponsorships are the only way cable shows will be able to monetize audiences in the future.
But watching the current generation of young'uns I doubt they'll succeed. None of them watch TV ("It's boring!" "TV is for old people" etc.).
Washington DC delenda est.