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Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

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Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#261

Post by freehunter »

alsetmusic wrote: post #195
jjeaff wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that is certain is that there are more commercials now. If you watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory sans commercials, you will notice that it is only 17 minutes long! And that includes the 60 second intro. So 13 minutes of commercials for 16 minutes of actual content. No chance I'll be going back to regular TV.

> One thing that is certain is that there are more commercials now. If you watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory sans commercials, you will notice that it is only 17 minutes long! And that includes the 60 second intro. So 13 minutes of commercials for 16 minutes of actual content. No chance I'll be going back to regular TV. I get my episodes of BBT from iTunes. You’re correct that BBT episodes are shorter than most…

The Simpsons has some intros that push up to and sometimes over two minutes in length. Sure, they're often clever and do take time and money to create, but it's still time taken from the actual show.

Supernatural or Lost are good examples of how an intro should be. Literally just the name of the show on the screen for a few seconds, no theme music that gets annoying halfway through the season, no montage of the characters tromping around a fountain, just skip to the show.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#262

Post by BashiBazouk »

jamroom wrote: post #151
nostrademons wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that all that different from what it was before? My recollection of 80s sitcoms & children's programs is that they had 3 commercials of 3 minutes apiece, plus a 3 minute break between programs. That's 12 minutes. Actually, I can test this...I've got some old My Little Pony episodes lying around on a hard disk. They're 9 minutes apiece. IIRC they ran 2 to a timeslot, so that's 18 minutes of show per 30 minute times…

I don't know about kids cartoons, but I just watched the original Star Trek episodes from the late 60's and they are 50 minutes each (for a 1 hour time slot) so that's 10 minutes of commercials. Hour long episodes are now about 40 to 41 minutes in length, so the number of commercials has doubled since then.

SciFi channel once aired the original uncut TOS episodes. Each episode took an hour and fifteen minute time slot. Shows how much commercials have increased since than...

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#263

Post by rifung »

hyperbovine wrote: post #74
neals wrote: post #5

I accidentally watched some TV the other day. Having not seen any regular programming for at least a year, I was amazed at how much ... dumber it has become. Also, why did we sit through so many commercials for so long? It feel a little like a twilight zone episode, where we sit there watching a box telling us what to buy.

There's a shitload of product placement in Netflix and (particularly) Amazon original content. They're still telling you what to buy, you just don't notice it as much.

This might be true but I much prefer product placement which doesn't interfere with the show than having the show be interrupted to see an ad.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#264

Post by JetSpiegel »

eloisant wrote: post #204
hyperbovine wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a shitload of product placement in Netflix and (particularly) Amazon original content. They're still telling you what to buy, you just don't notice it as much.

I still prefer to watch Frank Underwood telling me how good Monument Valley is than having my show stop and sit in front of old fashioned ads.

At least ads are honest and you can tune out.

Product Placement is like a landmine, I'm watching the show when they spring an ad out of the blue and kill any semblance of suspension of disbelief.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#265

Post by hawkice »

telekid wrote: post #190
labster wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, the commercials are the best part of watching The Big Bang Theory . Much better to spend a few minutes imagining how cool I would be if I just owned Product X rather than see a nerd minstrel show with an annoying laugh track.

…really? "Nerd minstrel show?" Ah yes, we poor nerds, overcoming centuries of repressive awkwardness and desk jobs.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say minstrel shows were disgusting and mean-spirited enough that the historical context that contained them was overpowered by its own characterizing foulness. Would be a pretty stomach churning thing to see today even without knowledge of the history. Definitely a coherent metaphor, in the same way 'grammar nazi' is -- conflating style but not magnitude.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#266

Post by JetSpiegel »

viraptor wrote: post #250
CaptSpify wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ublock doesn't cover mobile devices though It does on FF for Android!

The context here is youtube. When you're watching a youtube video on android, it's either in the youtube app, in a webview, or in the browser. The first two are not covered by ublock and the last one is the least likely to happen. (in my experience anyway)

Why use the YouTube app? The browser is Good Enough.

If you want a more "native" player there's always SkyTube and other similar apps for longform content.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#267

Post by osteele »

neals wrote: post #5

I accidentally watched some TV the other day. Having not seen any regular programming for at least a year, I was amazed at how much ... dumber it has become. Also, why did we sit through so many commercials for so long? It feel a little like a twilight zone episode, where we sit there watching a box telling us what to buy.

Nicholas Negroponte joked that there's a “brightness” setting on the television, but it doesn't work.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#268

Post by rifung »

intopieces wrote: post #161
1_2__4 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, yes it is. I’m astounded your conflate broadcaster cable TV ads with the stuff we see on, say, YouTube. They seem very different to me

YouTube ads don’t tell you what to buy? Or, they aren’t displayed on something box shaped? If you mean the ads are better quality, then that’s even worse. Better ads mean you’re being told what to buy... more effectively.

> If you mean the ads are better quality, then that’s even worse. Better ads mean you’re being told what to buy... more effectively.

I suppose it depends what you mean by "better quality".

I have seen ads which were effective in making me think something was a good product only to discover that it's not upon further research.

On the other hand, I have seen ads which were really good in the sense that they showed me something that I would not have otherwise found and that I genuinely like.

If it matters to anyone I work for Google (Cloud) so maybe I'm biased in my stance on ads. That being said, I am guilty of using ublock origin so I like to think I hate annoying ads as much as anyone else.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#269

Post by GnarfGnarf »

neals wrote: post #5

I accidentally watched some TV the other day. Having not seen any regular programming for at least a year, I was amazed at how much ... dumber it has become. Also, why did we sit through so many commercials for so long? It feel a little like a twilight zone episode, where we sit there watching a box telling us what to buy.

Absolutely: I cut the cable a couple of years ago. I refuse to watch commercials. When I do stumble on regular broadcast TV, it feels like the commercials take up 50% of the time.

Note that I don't mind smart or funny commercials. I will actually seek out reruns of the old "Hi I'm a Mac/PC" and watch them with delight. (And I'm a PC user :o).

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#270

Post by GuiA »

scarface74 wrote: post #252
GuiA wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why the Nintendo Switch is so genius. A home console that can appeal to people with a marginal interest in video games, but who don’t own a TV.

That whole 3%?

All the students/young professionals who consume their media on laptops/tablets and don’t feel the need to own a TV. There’s a lot of them.
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