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Will cable TV be invaded by commercials? (1981)

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

#131

Post by scarface74 »

cure wrote: post #45
0xff00ffee wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is why Hulu is a nonstarter for me. If I'm paying, no ads, period.

You won’t use Hulu because three shows have ads - Greys Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder and Agents of Shield?

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

#132

Post by scarface74 »

quadrifoliate wrote: post #40
0xff00ffee wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How is this not a false advertising lawsuit in the making? I mean, maybe the effect will be to make it "Hulu Silver", but that's better than blatantly claiming "No Ads" on an ad-containing product. edit: Incredibly, there seem to be multiple reasons why you can see ads when on the "No Ads" plan; and they have an entire page dedicated to these reasons: https://help.hulu.com/s/article/ads-no-commercials?language=...

There is Hulu with no ads where there are three shows with ads.

Then there is Hulu Live TV which is like traditional cable. That gives you shows live and on demand that would usually come with a cable package. This is in addition to the regular Hulu offering.

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

#133

Post by fulafel »

the_duke wrote: post #112
WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #39

I 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.

There is already plenty of product placement on Netflix. The smoking is notorious, for example. They cram in cigarettes wherever they can, often to the detriment of the scene. I really wish there were laws mandating a very obvious " this scene was sponsored by X" overlay.

Even bigger issue (measured in future loss of life years and ethics[1]): cars, there's so much driving. For environmental reasons we should heavily discourage that.

[1] smoking mostly is self inflicted harm, GW kills others

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

#134

Post by scarface74 »

dylan604 wrote: post #72
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 also demands a higher fee than something like HGTV or A&E. The one that kills me is ESPN. It is the most expensive channel for a cable operator to carry, and it is also known as a must carry.

HBO is completely different than ESPN. You can choose to pay for HBO. You can’t choose to exclude ESPN.

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

#135

Post by flo123456 »

scarface74 wrote: post #126
titzer wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Old? I feel like a dinosaur because I still watch shock DVDs. Still no ads. No DRM. No funky software needed, though, TBH, the bits are encrypted. Not sure how long optical media lasts, but I am hoping these things last a few more decades.

DVDs don’t have DRM????

They do. But it’s been broken for 20 years or so.

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

#136

Post by kortilla »

jarjoura wrote: post #123
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you heard about Game of Thrones or Westworld or Stranger Things, or most recently, Tiger King, you'd realize this is very much still a thing for a large population. This isn't the same thing. In the 1990s, everybody watched The Simpsons. Even the people who hated it still watched it so they could complain about it. It was on broadcast TV so everybody had access to it. And Friends, and Cheers, and so on. Game of…

People had watch parties the moment episodes dropped for GoT. Bars would even air episodes in later years. Most of the world watched it together, both legally and illegally. It was definitely the same thing.

GoT was in 10-20 million in final season worldwide. Seinfeld finale was 70-80 million in US alone. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-may-16-ca-50143...

The numbers don’t even compare. With Seinfeld that’s literally 1 in 5 people in the US. GoT is what, maybe 1 in 100?

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

#137

Post by Razengan »

WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #39

I 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.

"Growth" is now one of my most hated overused business lingo, after "innovation".

Is it too naive to hope that this pandemic will make us collectively question the value of creeds like growth for growth's sake?

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

#138

Post by alecco »

sverhagen wrote: post #116
the_duke wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is already plenty of product placement on Netflix. The smoking is notorious, for example. They cram in cigarettes wherever they can, often to the detriment of the scene. I really wish there were laws mandating a very obvious " this scene was sponsored by X" overlay.

Which makes me wonder, internationally, if there aren't countries that would make them do that for their territory? I think in the Netherlands pretty much all kinds of tobacco advertising is banned, even the very creative ones (like opening a chain of bars named similar to one tobacco brand). And I just found a (Dutch language) site weakly referencing European rules around disclosure of product placement (though, in…

In Europe some Netflix programs start with a warning that it contains placed advertisements. But it's rare.

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

#139

Post by msla »

jarjoura wrote: post #123
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you heard about Game of Thrones or Westworld or Stranger Things, or most recently, Tiger King, you'd realize this is very much still a thing for a large population. This isn't the same thing. In the 1990s, everybody watched The Simpsons. Even the people who hated it still watched it so they could complain about it. It was on broadcast TV so everybody had access to it. And Friends, and Cheers, and so on. Game of…

People had watch parties the moment episodes dropped for GoT. Bars would even air episodes in later years. Most of the world watched it together, both legally and illegally. It was definitely the same thing.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/30/media/game-of-thrones-season-...

> Sunday's episode of "Game of Thrones" notched a series record of 17.8 million viewers, according to HBO. "The Long Night" broke the record set by the season premiere just two weeks ago when 17.4 million viewers tuned in.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/2...

> 106 million people watched ‘M.A.S.H.’ finale 35 years ago. No scripted show since has come close.

Note that these are raw numbers, not percentage of population. There are more people now than there were when "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" aired, but the broadcast TV episode still got more human beings to watch it.

Maybe almost 100 million watched Game of Thrones illegally.

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

#140

Post by Talanes »

0x202020 wrote: post #124
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 they are bound to. You don’t think as soon as Disney can they aren’t going to start showing ads for everything Disney related? The worst step back to me from TV -> streaming -> streaming becoming more TV like is content release schedules. The Mandalorian on Disney Plus was a great example, you have all the episodes ready and there isn’t a good reason to keep them sitting behind a time gate. I would be much mo…

Catering to the customers least interested in keeping the service isn't a great business strategy. Those who do only want to pay for one month to watch the whole show still have the option of subscribing during the last month of airing. Or any time after that.
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