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Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

nytimes.com

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Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

#11

Post by nordsieck »

downerending wrote: post #7

It's like a creeping cancer that cannot be stopped. Back around 1981, advertisers would take a certain percentage of ad pages in each newspaper or magazine and consider it a reasonable deal. These days, they absolutely will not accept this unless they get a lot more space, obnoxious animations, force-play videos, and overlays that you have to click through, and often various registration walls, cross-site tracking, e…

> With ML, eventually this will become pervasive, even into the physical world. (My VR goggles will gray out billboards, etc.)

Will your glasses grey out James Bond's Aston Martin in Goldfinger?

Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

#12

Post by mavhc »

sjwright wrote: post #2

And the real question is: will history repeat itself with Netflix, et al? HBO demonstrates that it’s still an open question.

Selling ads globally seems like it's more expensive, unless you automate it like Google etc do, so they'd rather stick to just having subscriptions and be considered premium content.

Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

#14

Post by dicknuckle »

rjtobin wrote: post #9
sjwright wrote: post #2

And the real question is: will history repeat itself with Netflix, et al? HBO demonstrates that it’s still an open question.

I think there’s a chance it will be different: at least now there is the potential to offer customers an ad-free package for an extra cost. Some services like Hulu already do this (offering cheaper plan with ads and a slightly pricier plan with no ads). I think with cable this would have been difficult or impossible to achieve. One nice thing about this is it makes plain how much the networks make from showing ads to…

we actually split Hulu with a friend. we pay the difference between basic and no-ads. it's an auto payment from bank account to bank account every month. life on autopilot.

Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

#15

Post by llukas »

nordsieck wrote: post #11
downerending wrote: post #7

It's like a creeping cancer that cannot be stopped. Back around 1981, advertisers would take a certain percentage of ad pages in each newspaper or magazine and consider it a reasonable deal. These days, they absolutely will not accept this unless they get a lot more space, obnoxious animations, force-play videos, and overlays that you have to click through, and often various registration walls, cross-site tracking, e…

> With ML, eventually this will become pervasive, even into the physical world. (My VR goggles will gray out billboards, etc.) Will your glasses grey out James Bond's Aston Martin in Goldfinger?

With style transfer improving a bit they can make it any brand ;P

Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

#16

Post by jagged-chisel »

nordsieck wrote: post #11
downerending wrote: post #7

It's like a creeping cancer that cannot be stopped. Back around 1981, advertisers would take a certain percentage of ad pages in each newspaper or magazine and consider it a reasonable deal. These days, they absolutely will not accept this unless they get a lot more space, obnoxious animations, force-play videos, and overlays that you have to click through, and often various registration walls, cross-site tracking, e…

> With ML, eventually this will become pervasive, even into the physical world. (My VR goggles will gray out billboards, etc.) Will your glasses grey out James Bond's Aston Martin in Goldfinger?

Not really necessary unless Bond’s current fling proclaims “This is a truly astonishing automobile, James. From which dealer is it available, and are there any current incentives?”

Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

#17

Post by eranimo »

downerending wrote: post #7

It's like a creeping cancer that cannot be stopped. Back around 1981, advertisers would take a certain percentage of ad pages in each newspaper or magazine and consider it a reasonable deal. These days, they absolutely will not accept this unless they get a lot more space, obnoxious animations, force-play videos, and overlays that you have to click through, and often various registration walls, cross-site tracking, e…

That cancer is called consumerism

Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

#18

Post by zdragnar »

elliekelly wrote: post #8
sjwright wrote: post #2

And the real question is: will history repeat itself with Netflix, et al? HBO demonstrates that it’s still an open question.

I’ve recently noticed some Hulu shows that let you know you’ll see ads even if you subscribe to ad-free Hulu.

IIRC, the licensing arrangement between Hulu and the network prohibits not showing ads on those shows, or some such nonsense.

Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

#19

Post by SubiculumCode »

leereeves wrote: post #13
sjwright wrote: post #2

And the real question is: will history repeat itself with Netflix, et al? HBO demonstrates that it’s still an open question.

> HBO demonstrates that it’s still an open question. What do you mean? Is HBO or HBO Go adding commercials?

I assume he means that because HBO does not show ads, it is an open question of whether Netflix would try.

Personally, I will not subscribe to services that show commercials. Commercials are for free services, not for paid services. As soon as you allow them to cross that boundary....

Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

#20

Post by bosswipe »

downerending wrote: post #7

It's like a creeping cancer that cannot be stopped. Back around 1981, advertisers would take a certain percentage of ad pages in each newspaper or magazine and consider it a reasonable deal. These days, they absolutely will not accept this unless they get a lot more space, obnoxious animations, force-play videos, and overlays that you have to click through, and often various registration walls, cross-site tracking, e…

The only reason you can block ads on the web is because there was a small window where the idealistic academics that built the internet and the web were able to keep commercial interests out so they were able to use open universal protocols. The same will not be true for VR.
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