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Cable companies have started showing fewer ads because of Netflix

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

#61

Post by eterm »

harryc2011 wrote: post #54
eterm wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 spo…

There certainly is product placement in the UK - see [1]. When watching these shows you'll see an opaque 'PP' logo flash up on the screen to let you know. [1] https://www.itvmedia.co.uk/advertising-opportunities/broadca...

Ah, I had read they were going to bring it in, I just didn't think it had happened yet, I guess it's been longer than I remember since I've watched commercial TV.

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

#62

Post by JustSomeNobody »

Yhippa wrote: post #55
darkr wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also find it astounding that people pay $50-60/month for a cable service that is 30% adverts. At that ratio, the cable service should be paying them.

Same thing for the mobile web. Since I pay for data usage I am more concerned about things like video pop-up ads or even little things like web devs failing to download an ad image appropriate for the size of my screen instead of the original resolution image.

Completely agree.

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

#63

Post by ma2rten »

dragontamer wrote: post #60
thefreeman wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except Hulu (at least used to, it may have changed recently) still shows ads to their premium subscribers, which is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

It changed. There's an ad-free option on Hulu now.

Hulu just started offering an ad-free option recently.

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

#64

Post by greyfox »

nlawalker wrote: post #8

A question for those who have done more thinking on this than I have: I see cable TV going the way of the dedicated phone line - a bundled benefit you get for a very small fee on top of the primary benefit, which will be the internet connection. The overall cost of a subscription will remain roughly the same, but the cost will be allocated to the internet connection: much like mobile carriers are now basically free v…

$90-120 for internet per month? that better be like 150Mbps+ up/down

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

#65

Post by greyfox »

stonogo wrote: post #44
rrego wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Ads.

from what i understand OTA channels are free because the public airwaves are a public utility and they are funded by the ads they sell. cable just took this model and decided to reverse the costs from the ad generators to the consumers.

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

#66

Post by comrh »

benten10 wrote: post #46
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…

2 points. I won't speak for myself, but from what I've gathered from friends: 1. A lot of people seem to like video ads. Movie ads specially tell you 'whats hot', and general ads put you 'in the loop' so to speak. I've tried to install ABV for a couple of people who won't let me because they actually like ads (as in youtube, not the shiny bright popups). This may be true for more people than HN crowd would assume. 2.…

I've experienced #2, with Plex you can make playlists and shuffle through them though which I find mimics TV pretty well (without the ads).

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

#67

Post by JustSomeNobody »

draugadrotten wrote: post #7
raverbashing wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How about ad-free versions of their channels? Apparently that was what cable was all about at the beginning It's hard to lure back people to an inferior product.

The ad-free historiy of cable also tells you the future of Netflix and other streaming services. Bait...and switch!

I don't think this qualifies as true bait and switch.

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

#68

Post by clentaminator »

benten10 wrote: post #46
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…

2 points. I won't speak for myself, but from what I've gathered from friends: 1. A lot of people seem to like video ads. Movie ads specially tell you 'whats hot', and general ads put you 'in the loop' so to speak. I've tried to install ABV for a couple of people who won't let me because they actually like ads (as in youtube, not the shiny bright popups). This may be true for more people than HN crowd would assume. 2.…

I don't think that ads as a way of finding things you may be interested in is necessarily bad, but it's certainly not the only way. If I want to find out what's current or upcoming in videogames I can go to Eurogamer, Polygon, Gematsu, or another site with that kind of focus. (Actually knowing which places are best for your interests and which should be filtered out is another issue, of course...)

If a random ad happens to be something I'm curious about then great, but I find that it's more often not.

2 is a fair point, though I wonder if your shared interests as friends (making assumptions here) couldn't guide your search?

Cable as 'a curated platform of best video content, being streaming 24/7' is interesting, but the current "best" just may not be someone's thing. Again I think it comes down to wanting to choose precisely what you watch, though I see your point that you don't always know (though if you don't know what you want to watch, maybe doing something else is the option?).

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

#69

Post by anthony_romeo »

darkr wrote: post #43
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…

I also find it astounding that people pay $50-60/month for a cable service that is 30% adverts. At that ratio, the cable service should be paying them.

I think one issue is that buying a bundle of Cable/Internet only costs a little bit more than buying Internet alone. All these Cable/Internet providers have a vested interest in getting people to watch Cable, so they overcharge substantially for just buying [rather slow] Internet alone.

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

#70

Post by imgabe »

nlawalker wrote: post #8

A question for those who have done more thinking on this than I have: I see cable TV going the way of the dedicated phone line - a bundled benefit you get for a very small fee on top of the primary benefit, which will be the internet connection. The overall cost of a subscription will remain roughly the same, but the cost will be allocated to the internet connection: much like mobile carriers are now basically free v…

When I signed up for FiOS a year ago, it was cheaper to get TV + Internet than only Internet.

I think it makes sense. Consumer attention is now more valuable than the content. There's so much content available that it's impossible for any one person to pay attention to all of it.

As a result, publishers should have to pay for the opportunity to use someone's scarce attention rather than consumers paying to get access to content.

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