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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

#271

Post by gatmne »

cik2e wrote: post #197
hristov wrote: post #4

Sounds great but the sad reality is that Netflix shows have commercials inside of them. I was really excited about this netflix show "love" until the macdonalds product placement inside of it just made me sick and i stopped watching it. I haven't been watching much original netflix shows since then, but whenever i feel like peeking into a new show i notice product placements pretty soon.

Real life has product placement every time you go outside in civilization. I'm getting upset about you guys getting upset over something so trivial. Edit: read further down and I have to say that I've never seen (or noticed) anything so blatant as characters going on about features of a car. That would indeed be frustrating.

> Real life has product placement every time you go outside in civilization. I'm getting upset about you guys getting upset over something so trivial.

That's a false equivalence and a poor way to think about things.

People making those real-life product placements are not deliberately placing those products in view of others in exchange for money for the sole purpose of manipulating viewers to buy said product. I agree with the GP. At least with ads you know that you're being manipulated.

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

#272

Post by sytelus »

This is one of the biggest advantage of not having an actual TV in the house. We watch everything on demand ad-free on YouTube, Netflix, Xfinity Streaming and Prime Video. The ads on TV even in kids specific programs are horrible. On non-kids programs it's absolutely something kids shouldn't be watching.

Another huge advantage of not having actual TV in house is that we need to watch everything on PC or tablet. This adds friction in the process compared to just taking remote and press button. Also small kids typically will need parents help to watch anything instead of just starting to flip channels by themselves and exposing themselves to all commercial nastiness in very early age.

Finally, once everything you want to watch is on demand, you have very different mindset. You never rush for specific time to watch TV. Time after dinner can be some activity. There is no compulsion that you must be first to watch GoT right along your friends. All that silly competition dies out. Now a days we watch many movies and TV series many years after they have been released and we absolutely don't feel as if we missed out by not watching right when they came out. Entertainment exists for us instead of other way around.

I pity parents who still haven't figured this out and have actual TV sets in their houses.

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

#273

Post by anonytrary »

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.

TV really is dumb now. Maybe it always was, and we're just now realizing how dumb it is. That is, maybe we're getting smarter and are getting used to better tools. TV is a one-way channel, meant to be consumed. Desktops, laptops and mobiles are all two way channels, meant to be interacted with; superior to the TV model in every way.

When all you have is TV, though, you can acclimate yourself to all kinds of rubbish. I'm sure in the future when we have a superior protocol or way or doing something, we'll look back and wonder why we thought X was ever a good idea.

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

#274

Post by kakarot »

jjeaff wrote: post #117
nostrademons wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect regular programming isn't getting dumber, the alternatives are just getting smarter. When I look at the crap I watched as a kid in the 80s (which included a good amount of 70s reruns), basically all broadcast TV today is far superior. But the competition for broadcast TV isn't "no competition" now, it's the Internet, and computer games, and Netflix. The entertainment industry has been blown wide open by the…

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.

Not to mention networks like TBS have been caught speeding up shows like Seinfeld so that they can squeeze more commercials into the timeslot.

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

#275

Post by deckarep »

Every time someone is like: “what? You don’t have cable you weird person you!” This is why. Got tired of paying a premium for commercials and over the years the commercial breaks got longer, and longer and longer.

Hey cable subscribers...go ahead and channel surf and take some stats on how often a commercial is playing as you iterate through each channel.

It’s ridiculous. Netflix is alright with me.

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

#276

Post by nasredin »

jjeaff wrote: post #117
nostrademons wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect regular programming isn't getting dumber, the alternatives are just getting smarter. When I look at the crap I watched as a kid in the 80s (which included a good amount of 70s reruns), basically all broadcast TV today is far superior. But the competition for broadcast TV isn't "no competition" now, it's the Internet, and computer games, and Netflix. The entertainment industry has been blown wide open by the…

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.

Is this a recent change?

IIRC the standard is:

22 minutes for 30 min shows

44 minutes for hour long shows

You can go to RARBG and check the MediaInfo for any show.

So you get 16 min of ads every hour. So a quarter of each hour is ads.

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

#277

Post by pound »

drdrey wrote: post #234
ggregoire wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watching TV and play video games have not the same effects on the brain. Watching TV puts your brain in idle mode

I don't disagree -- but why do we value reading books so much over watching TV? Aren't you consuming stories passively in both cases? (let's say reading Harry Potter vs watching Harry Potter)

When you're reading books your brain is working on visualizing what you've just read

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

#278

Post by wst_ »

freehunter wrote: post #261
alsetmusic wrote: post #195

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. 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 chara…

Netflix is just skipping intro for you.

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

#279

Post by zerocrates »

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.

I really wondered about his political acumen and general well-being when he insisted that PS Vita had "all the games."

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

#280

Post by chiefalchemist »

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.

I'm going to send your comment to the NFL (on be half of all the anti Kaeperick morons who blame him for the lower ratings). Even the British PL (football aka soccer) has a small # of adverts.
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