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July 12, 2005
Shock: 90% DVR/TiVo Users Say They Skip TV Ads
As the old joke about masturbation goes: the other ten percent lie.
Big trouble for TV, and for people who admit to watching TV besides PBS, like me. Yeah, it's fun to skip the commercials -- I've barely seen any commercials in two years -- but obviously commercial advertising is what keeps all that rich juicy programming piping through our cable wires.
They'll have to rely on placing products in TV shows, but that's not enough. That's way to subtle a form of advertising in most cases. Yes, James Bond can move some razors if he announces his preference for Braun or whatever, but who the hell cares what sort of diet cola Detective Munch from Law & Order: SVU drinks? I don't.
They're going to have to go old school. Back to fifties-style advertising.
I think they'll have to start paying the stars of the shows they're advertising on to do direct pitches during commercial breaks, or do mini-skits about, say, Cialis. And hope that people who watch Scrubs will watch John C. McGinley tell you that you really should be eating more Total cereal.