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Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

businessinsider.com

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Re: Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

#31

Post by RHSeeger »

clentaminator wrote: post #28

Aside from ads, freedom of choice with respect to just what you watch seem to be the other key motivator. With the capability of streaming and on-demand services, why would any consumer put up with having to choose any channel with a fixed programming schedule? I almost certainly don't want to watch what you're trying to sell. No other industry seems to operate in this manner. When it comes to books, games, music, et…

Don't forget that, as a non-sports-watcher, you get to pay a fee to subsidize all the sports channels you don't watch. It's not even the cost of the channels, per se... you get the extra "regional sports surcharge" on top of that.

Re: Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

#32

Post by clentaminator »

RHSeeger wrote: post #31
clentaminator wrote: post #28

Aside from ads, freedom of choice with respect to just what you watch seem to be the other key motivator. With the capability of streaming and on-demand services, why would any consumer put up with having to choose any channel with a fixed programming schedule? I almost certainly don't want to watch what you're trying to sell. No other industry seems to operate in this manner. When it comes to books, games, music, et…

Don't forget that, as a non-sports-watcher, you get to pay a fee to subsidize all the sports channels you don't watch. It's not even the cost of the channels, per se... you get the extra "regional sports surcharge" on top of that.

I never knew about that, so thanks. This is a significant argument against the traditional cable model, at least for me.

Are there other genres (for want of a better term) where this applies?

Re: Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

#33

Post by eitally »

jimmar wrote: post #17

I can count on one hand the number of times my children have sat down and watched network TV. They are 4 and 7 years old. With ~15 minutes of commercials per hour, I've probably saved them from watching thousands of commercials, which I think is a good thing.

Mine only ever see it in hotel rooms on vacation. The first time they experienced it, my son got very upset because we could pause it when he had to use the bathroom. The commercials irritated my wife & I so much we just turned it off entirely.

Re: Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

#34

Post by coldpie »

LeonM wrote: post #11

My roommate called me recently that the TV was not working at home, because his girlfriend wanted to watch TV. As it turned out, we never plugged the cable into the TV, we have lived in the same house for 3 years and neither of us ever watched cable TV during that time. (we do have a cable subscription because where we live you can't get cable internet without the TV and radio part attached...) I never understood why…

My girlfriend and I lived in our house for two years without even hooking up the roof antenna. Eventually I bothered to do it (not trivial, long story) because my girlfriend wanted to watch football. The idea of paying for network TV with ads is hilarious.

Re: Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

#35

Post by rrego »

gtk40 wrote: post #29
macNchz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have Time Warner internet-only service in NYC and they are constantly trying to sell me cable as a $10/month addon to my $35 50mbit internet package. I imagine it's a pretty limited set of channels, but they're very much already using that sales tactic.

Same thing with Charter for me. They constantly try to sell me a $7/month addon that will give access to over-the-air channels through cable. I got that with a >$10 HD antenna, so I'm not sure what the value would be. (and I've barely used that...)

I've been trying to (unsuccessfully) research why OTA broadcasts of channels exist in the first place. Why do/would these networks provide their service for free? I thought transmissions were to be encrypted.

Am I missing something?

Re: Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

#37

Post by jerf »

surge wrote: post #24
Itaxpica wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hulu Plus recently added an option where you can pay a bit extra (like two bucks a month) to make it ad free. It makes it a way more pleasant experience.

Only on certain shows, Hulu is still owned by networks that don't "get it".

Yes, but it's a short list. At the moment. Considering that the first derivative is at least for the moment away from ads, I am cautiously optimistic. I'm hoping that once Hulu has the data on the people paying those $2/month that it will reveal that there's a statistically-significant relationship between those shows still having ads, and the $2/month customers watching less of them per capita.

(My wife recently wanted us back on Hulu for Seinfeld, and it was a big factor in our decision to go back that we could turn off the ads, except in a set of shows we don't much care about.)

My understanding of the economics is that $2/month is significantly more than they can hope to make in ads off me, so I'm hoping the money is enough to overcome any residual desire to advertise. (Once the ad addiction is broken, there's good reason to believe it'll stay broken. Nowadays it's easier to get people to just give you a buck rather than shave away pennies at a time through ads. Thirty years ago that wasn't true.)

Re: Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

#38

Post by jonkiddy »

jimmar wrote: post #17

I can count on one hand the number of times my children have sat down and watched network TV. They are 4 and 7 years old. With ~15 minutes of commercials per hour, I've probably saved them from watching thousands of commercials, which I think is a good thing.

My 6 yr old daughter cried the first time she saw a commercial and was convinced I changed the channel on her.

Re: Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

#39

Post by lsaferite »

lentil_soup wrote: post #5

“Consumers are being trained there are places they can go to avoid ads.” With that kind of rhetoric no wonder they're still in denial.

Yeah, that comment also jumped out at me as well. I really cannot fathom their thought processes.

Re: Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

#40

Post by eterm »

jackgavigan wrote: post #10

It astounds me how much US TV airtime is devoted to adverts - roughly 18 minutes out of every hour, AFAIK (plus any split-screen advertising shenanigans). In the UK, (outside the BBC, which doesn't have adverts) TV broadcasters are limited to an overall average of 7 minutes per hour, with limits of 12 minutes for any individual clock hour (which drops to 8 minutes during primetime). The BBC's Natural History unit del…

It's more nuanced than that, those are tighter rules for ITV1, C4, C5.

The other channels, including the "freeview" offerings can have more advertising:

(Other services) 1.1.2(B) (a) The total amount of spot advertising in any one day must not exceed an average of nine minutes per hour (15 per cent) of broadcasting.

(b) This may be increased by a further three minutes per hour (5 per cent) devoted to teleshopping spots, but this additional 5 per cent must not be used for other forms of spot advertising.

This doesn't at all change your point of course, we have good tight advertising laws in the UK, including a complete ban on any product placement whatsoever. (There was talk about loosening this rule, but I haven't seen evidence that happened to any significant degree.)

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