You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that the TV industry is slow to pick up on trends. I mean, after all, they’re still heavily reliant on outdated Nielsen ratings. But what we do know about television people is that they LOVE money, which means that when advertisers learn how to read, people who watch television online are in trouble.
Why? Because while advertisers throw most of their money at old-school television commercials, that’s probably going to change soon.
On average, advertisers pay roughly $20 CPM for a television ad. That means they pay $20 for every 1,000 viewers. However, television viewers don’t watch all the commercials, although you’d be surprised by how much people — even with DVRs — do watch commercials. On average, one study shows that DVR users only skip 46 percent of commercials on network television, and 50 percent of commercials on cable television (really? Are 50 percent of people so lazy they won’t skip commercials, or do they just LOVE commercials?). That means, in reality, that advertisers actually pay around $40 CPM, if you assume that only half of the viewers watch commercials.
That number is significantly different online. People who watch television online are far more tolerant of ads (I can vouch for this from personal experience). Online viewers of television watch a whopping 91 percent of ads. Moreover, if you have been watching television on network websites or on Hulu, you also know that networks have added significantly more ads to their shows. Three years ago, I remember watching one, maybe two, spots per show. Now, however, the ad breaks are simulating the TV set model — there are up to 8 ad breaks. Despite that, 91 percent of viewers are STILL watching them.
Why? Because you can’t skip ads online. Sure, on your laptop, you can browse online in another tab while your show is playing, but in most cases, that’s not even possible on mobile devices. So, in order to avoid paying for cable, there’s a trade-off: You have to suffer through commercials.
Right now, relative to television CPMs, online ads are pretty cheap (as low as $5 CPM). Once TV people figure that out, they’re going to increase those rates. Combine that with 91 percent viewer retention, and television people are going to start testing that limit as much as possible. That means, more ad breaks. There’s also a lot more creative flexibility in online ads: You want to make sure that your ad is seen? Make it interactive. Force viewers to engage with the ad before they can go back to their program. They’ll turn the experience from passive viewing to active engagement, and as long as we tolerate it, they’ll keep pushing it.
Before long, if you want to watch an entire episode of Revenge on ABC.com, you’re going to have to dance like a monkey. You know what? People without cable may do it, too, because dancing like a monkey is cheaper than a $100 cable subscription.
On the bright side, if all commercials starred Kate Upton, maybe it’s not such a terrible thing, after all.
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The ads don’t bug me on Hulu at all. Because I’m paying practically nothing (I’m on Hulu Plus), I don’t mind sitting through a few quick ad breaks. Even though there are more ad breaks on Hulu now, there are never more than 3 ads per break so that’s completely tolerable.
I’m sure those numbers will go up as online TV viewing becomes more mainstream, but the price is right so I’m ok with.
I’ve been saying this (to no one) for years. On-line viewers are usually a captive audience, when I’m watching a show sitting in front of my computer I barely ever get out of my seat. Even if I load up another web page I can still hear the ad. If anything they should charge more for ads on-line.
I’m probably in the minority here who sees this as a good thing. The more profitable online ads become, the more likely a viable ISP TV service becomes.
Annoying as ads are – and as intrusive as they may become – they supply the cash. Where they spend is where networks will invest.
The way to stop invasive ads is if you ever find yourself in a focus group (or filling out a marketing survey), say you’re much less likely to purchase a product from a company that utilizes those kind of ads. Speaking from personal experience, the only thing marketers fear more than poor market penetration is negative brand equity.
I think the reason that people watch more ads online is because they generally only show 1-2 ads per break, which leaves a lot less time to go make a sandwhich/use the bathroom/masturbate to Kate Upton gif. Even with the pause or rewind feature people are just too lazy to do it.
That’s interesting that tv ads have a $20 CPM, I honestly thought it would be a lot more considering the average CPM for Display advertising online is around $7.
AdblockPlus on Firefox = no commercials. The most I have to deal with is a black screen where an ad should be on Hulu. I know I’m not halting the presses by saying that, especially on this site; But I do see a day where my ability to not watch ads while viewing on-line will soon come to an end
Is this so terrible? Let’s say they start charging rates equivalent to tv commercials, doesn’t this.benefits a low rated, but popular online show like Community whose viewers are more likely to watch online when they see fit?
Yeah, my fear is that they’ll be too slow to realize this and then there won’t be any online viewing.
I agree with it helping some of the more niche shows but transitioning from 3 ads to 8 will make me no longer want to use any of the popular streaming services.
One important point no one mentions is Netflix. Netflix has ZERO ads. They also have some shows that update every week with new episodes. If it only takes 10 bucks a month for no ads then there should not be a change from 3 to 8 ads but for paying more for no ads.
Commercials are no longer effective in helping people purchase normal everyday items like bath soaps or toothpaste and as such the big companies don’t want to face the facts that times have changed.
A note about the sound :
1. They were 800 yards away, not 800 feet away, whihc is a hella long distance (and even 800 feet isn’t anything to scoff at).
2. Idling trains are fucking LOUD. It’s more implausible that Bill Burr and the engineers could hear each other at all without screaming the entire time.
Please do explain.
Thought I was on the Breaking Bad thread. Stupid multiple tabs. My bad.
I’m probably among that 50% that “watches” the ads. A lot of times I’ll be futzing around on the computer or jacking off or whatever and I won’t be paying enough attention to what’s on TV to bother fast-forwarding through the commercials.
Yeah, I don’t think people are necessarily watching the ads, just because they’re playing. They get up and get a snack, or go to the bathroom, or jack off, as you said.
Honestly sometimes I just forget Im watching a DVR until half way through the show
I honestly despise ads while I’m watching content online. Enough of them are on television to last a life time, why does the internet need to be flooded with this garbage as well? Course, the internet has its own pool of online garbage, but that’s a different story, I DIGRESS, having online ads while I’m streaming content just makes me more mindful that these advertisers are being more pervasive in the only medium that doesn’t have the bullshit Nielsen ratings to boast about various crap-tastic shows.
Not sure where you got the $20 CPM from. Most TV ad buys are negotiated on the Average Commercial Minute, which derives ratings from the actual viewership of the commercial. The guarantee also factors in 3 days of DVR viewership into the rating. So the live viewership +3 days of DVR viewing results in the actual television rating. You might see $20 CPMs on traditional broadcast (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC) but the majority of cable networks will be no where close to that. Even a network like USA will only garner around a $13-15.00 CPM, and they are traditionally the highest-rated general entertainment cable channel that’s not ESPN.
I’m still stuck in the anachronistic world of cable t.v. so i dont really have a dog in this fight. However, what annoys me are those ads that appear in the sidebars of certain websites( looking at you, Uproxx & Friends) that dont allow you to mute or at the very least lower the sound while you’re trying to read an article.
I mean, how am i supposed to focus on Kate Uptons bewbs when Resolve is in my face trying to sell me carpet cleaner?
/First World Problem
Pretty much what everyone is saying…it stinks, but how else are you gonna pay the boom mike operator?
If they are going to continue to make me watch commercials, can I atleast get some vareity. Most of the time I get the same commerical over and over and over until the subliminal messages start to tell me to move to Georgia and destroy the family of Honey Boo Boo Child.
Not necessarily a bad thing.
Someone please reprogram Tommy Dickles’ laptop so he ends up doing exactly that. Sorry you have to take one for the team, Tommy, but it’s for the good of the country. We’ll all chip in for your defense fund.
Ads? What are those?
I haven’t seen an ad while browsing/watching shows online in like 5 years.
Y’all really still using IE or what/
Hey! I’d reccomend having a read on [gre-reviews.com] – It’s a site based on how you can watch live satellite tv on your computer. It has a discount link and also some reviews on the product itself and it’s just pretty great haha (:
To those using ad blocking software: I’ve seen videos that have the ads directly in the video stream as opposed to redirecting the player to another server with ads. If more sites start doing that, I don’t know how one would get around it.
My experience has been the opposite of what the author is claiming. I actually stumbled on this article by googling – longer television ads. I remember the days when the host of The Dating Game would say – we’ll be back in 2. Now it’s more like 4 or 5 minutes which is incredibly annoying to the point that I just purchase an episode or the entire season of my favorite shows or movies on ITunes. I also think the notion of longer commercials = stronger emotions is rat crap. I’d be more likely to boycott a product because of the time they make me waste by watching their uncreative and painful-to-watch commercials. Obviously, I am annoyed and frustrated, but thanks for the article.