If advertising ever intrudes on streaming the way it did on cable, I'll just transition out of watching TV altogether. I don't care near as much about keeping up with the zeitgeist as I used to. Maybe I'm just getting old.
Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
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Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
#52If advertising ever intrudes on streaming the way it did on cable, I'll just transition out of watching TV altogether. I don't care near as much about keeping up with the zeitgeist as I used to. Maybe I'm just getting old.
People used to all watch the same shows at the same time.That made it the thing everyone had in common.
Now TV is more like reading books. Everyone does it n their own time. It's still a big things, but it doesn't create a nationwide community.
On top of this, you're also getting old :)
Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Are you sure? I will have VR (AR?) googles with a camera that sees what my head points at, processes the video graying out ads, and shows it to me on my screens. Not sure commercial interests can prevent this product.
Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
It's only a matter of time until sites are rendering ads and content via websockets and wasm.
Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Not true. HULU still shows ads, even with "No Ads" version. From their website: Hulu (No Ads) Get First Month Free then $11.99/month A few excluded shows play with ads. [from here https://signup.hulu.com/plans ] That last line kills me. It's like H2G2, you can't have Tea and No Tea unless you remove your common sense particle.
Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
#56And the real question is: will history repeat itself with Netflix, et al? HBO demonstrates that it’s still an open question.
Frankly I think content is just overvalued and the actual creation of content is extremely inefficient, from a financial point of view. My personal experience has been that Hollywood film/television studios are poorly run businesses with massive losses at each point in the process, but is laden down by individuals who do things because it's the way it's always been done, are hostile to innovation (both technology and in business), and are anti-consumer, anti-viewer, and frankly anti-making-money.
It's honestly a terrible industry and needs to be disrupted. Market distortion is the only reason films cost what they do, from production to distribution and consumption. And literally everyone in the pipeline has an incentive to keep the market distorted, except people who watch content. Thank god for piracy.
Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
#57If advertising ever intrudes on streaming the way it did on cable, I'll just transition out of watching TV altogether. I don't care near as much about keeping up with the zeitgeist as I used to. Maybe I'm just getting old.
The TV zeitgeist is gone. People used to all watch the same shows at the same time.That made it the thing everyone had in common. Now TV is more like reading books. Everyone does it n their own time. It's still a big things, but it doesn't create a nationwide community. On top of this, you're also getting old :)
Weekly shows of certain types have massive speculation and plot discussion crowds with podcasts and analysis channels. Then there's a second viewership wave created by all the memes.
Netflix's just drop the whole season model has cost them a lot in public discussion and hence hype, some of their shows are now released in a weekly format to better capture the hype cycle.
Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
#58Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
#59It's amazing how much commercials have crept in. If you watch an "hour long" show from the early 80s, it's roughly 48 minutes. If you watch a similar show from 10-15 years ago, it's closer to 44-45 and in the last few years, it's more like 42 minutes. I assume it's only going to get worse as TV ad revenue drops faster with more alternatives.
Do you have a citation for this? It's been 42-44 minutes of content for at least the last 20 years in my experience.
Miami Vice (1984): 48m
Homicide Life On The Streets (1993): 47m
TekWar (1994): 45m
Nowhere Man (1995): 45m
Battlestar Galactica (2003): 44m
Dark Matter (2015): 43m
12 Monkeys (2015): 43m
Lucifer (2015): 43m
There are exceptions though. Legion (2017) episodes are around 50m, and several of the newer "made for streaming" shows have 50-60m episodes.
Re: Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)
#60I will bet a lot that Netflix is headed this way too. Once Netflix stops growing, it will need to find additional growth, and advertisement will be the way to additional profit.
Possibly. But with original content it may just be through syndication as well.