Either it goes pay-per-show or you'll start seeing ad crawls on the bottom of your screen during the show. Which will suck.
But this is a way off, DVRs like Tivo aren't in a huge percentage of the viewing publics homes yet. As that goes up, it'll be of more concern to advertisers.

I can just see Ace O Spades HQ ™ brought to you by Sara Lee ™

It's not clear that all advertising is unwanted. The future of TV is today's specialty magazine like Sky and Telescope.

People who buy that magazine do so because they're amateur astronomers or wannabes, and they are as interested in the ads as they are in the articles.

Something like FoodTV, which runs cooking show, tends to be watched by people who like to cook and want to do so better. Who advertises there? Makers of kitchen implements, producers of obscure cooking ingredients, publishers of cook books.

It's exactly the same thing.

The future of TV is small. The dismal future everyone looks at is for the big networks; they have no place in what's coming. The future of TV is specialized channels.

Who watches the Golf channel? Golfers, right? Who advertises there? Well, companies that make golfing equipment, for one thing.

Who watches the History channel? Military otaku. Who advertises there? Publishers of books about the military, producers of DVDs about the military, and so on.

That's the future.

Ad crawls will be fine. A lot of shows are being shown in widescreen, anyway. Why not run something under?

But then, they'll be almost entirely ignored.

TV's in trouble.

OR... they can go to a product placement model... or do it like the old times where the actors would take breaks in the middle of the show and pitch whetever product the show's sponsor was hawking.

That's actually the key to making money on the Internet, too. Sites like this can't charge much for ads because, well, who the hell are the readers? Nothing really unites them.

Sites that are dedicated to one specific area of interest -- photography, computer games, tv, etc. -- charge a lot more for ads.

Arg. Why the King of Queens slagging? Why not that dreadful Jim Belushi shit-show, or that Charlie Sheen suckfest, anything on UPN?

People seem to use KoQ's as a go to punchline when it's (or maybe was - for at least the seasons until Richie left) the best sit-com on network TV.

Seriously. Not being tongue in cheek. Didn't Shayles call it the best show on TV in it's early seasons.

Yeah, it's prototypical sit-com, and therefore easily derided. But it was a Damn Good sitcom. Dammit!

Speaking of Survivor, my money is on Danni. She's smart and pretty and nice. IMHO, this Survivor had by far the hottest women. Not that I watch it because gorgeous women are running around mostly naked.

Nah. Apparently the coming trend is advertising via plotline, where a product is inserted into the actual context of the show. For example, someone might center the episode around a stolen iPod, or some other such nonsense.

And, well, I tried to come up with some comical instance where an inserted product plug was just too out of context for a show, but (imagined, of course) . . . I got nothin'.

I've got finals, leave me alone.

Kind of hard to work a Swiffer into CSI, though.

"Take a look at the floor with UV light to look for blood and semen traces... and then, after you've processed it, take out the new Swiffer Wet-Jet Ultra and get the floor to a nice high shine."

-- "I agree, Grissom. There's no reason a murder scene has to be untidy."

Let's do a survey. Anyone who has ever bought anything because of an online ad say yo.

Not so sure I'd be spending any of that mad blog money just yet. I said this before and I'll say it again, companies don't want to advertise they want to sell things. TV is a passive medium and so all they can do is run ads or do product placement. Until someone starts to take advantage of the interactive nature of the internet, special pricing, available on certain internet sites only, priority sales for hot items to frequent visitors instead of waiting 8 hours in the rain for an XBox, internet advertising is a waste. Which is why very few companies do it and fewer still pay for it.

Prove to companies that SELLING their product on your site makes them money and then you will have them lining up.

While web advertising can be hyper-focused and lead the reader to immense amounts of product information, as well as an automatic way to buy, it doesn't benefit from the subtle psychological effects that support TV commercials.

The key to TV commercials, I believe, comes from their placement within the show. Most shows, whether drama, comedy or reality/news steadily build up tension, producing in the viewer a subtle (or not so subtle) sense of anxiety and dread.

Then you get a commercial break- where you're presented with a solution to a problem, or a method to increase your attractivness, or the promise of escape. There's a release, a relaxation, probably a small rush of endorphins or similar brain chemical, setting up an unconscious positive association with the product being advertised.

This, in my opinion is why crime stories are so prevalent on TV news, and even a reason why there's so little positive coverage of Iraq - the stronger the buildup of negativity during the show, the more powerful the release during the commercials.

Note: I'm not critical of this effect. I'm no Adbusters subscriber, but I do think it's an important part of the way advertising works.

I have, and now i'm going to fail my classes cause of it. Damn you Magna Carta, and your big-breasted cover art.

Sites like this can't charge much for ads because, well, who the hell are the readers? Nothing really unites them.

Pervs and the seriously disturbed. Am I the only one thinking Big Leather is missing a golden opportunity?

I have to wonder if there's a market for selling a show directly from the production company directly to the consumer. Kind of like a subscription: I get all the shows, plus a DVD set at the end of the season for a certain amount. I'd certainly be willing to do this for Battlestar Galactica, for example, or Rome on HBO.

I barely watch television these days, and it really grates on me to have to pay for the Golf Channel, the Cooking Channel, Lifetime, Oxygen, the Soap Channel (WTF?).... Television is an estrogen-laden wasteland, particularly during the day. Ala Carte pricing is the first step -- I only pay for the channels I want. But even then that's a waste; BSG is the only Sci Fi channel show I watch, for example.

How much would I be willing to pay? Let's say that BSG offered its shows in three formats: normal cable tv (in high def, natch), streamed over the internet, and on DVDs. I could opt for only one modality (let's say streaming) for a low price of $3 per episode, or maybe all three modalities for $50 or $60 per season. Since that's about what I'd pay for the DVD set anyway, it's not that much more money, and there's no middleman. Plus, marginal shows like Firefly could continue as long as the fan base was around to support the show.

I guess the financial aspect of this plan wouldn't work as well if you're a heavy TV watcher, but I'm sure the production houses could come up with bundling deals.

Calleigh Duquesne: "This triple homicide and blood spatter cast off from that meat cleaver reminds me that I have to pick up my new multi-function Tag Heuer watch from the jewelry store."

Let's do a survey. Anyone who has ever bought anything because of an online ad say yo.

Um... yeah, I bought "Michael Moore Hates America" from some site, maybe even here.
I bought a coffee mug from SondraK's site:
"Daddy, why are there no carjackers in Idaho?"
I'll probably buy the Hillary Egg Separator from iHillary because I like Pete and want to support him.

Too damn late, advertising guys! It's even easier to block ads on the internet than it is to avoid them via Tivo. I don't even watch TV anymore--if I want to see a particular show, I wait for the DVD to come out. Poor advertisers. They're going to have to start sending dancing advertising midgets door to door.

Yo.
I picked up a tshirt off of some site once. The model had nice cans.

Uh.. wait.. isn't everyone already downloading the shows they want ad-free in near-DVD-quality from usenet?

No?

Oh.. then.. uh.. neither am I.

Tom, I might if my ISP didn't have a 56k download cap on usenet. Getting the DVDs from Netflix is more convenient. I bittorrent the Asian tv shows I watch (TRICK is the best, funniest, creepiest TV series I've seen all year--everyone should go download it now) simply because the lack of anonymity is less of an issue with obscure foreign stuff.

When HDTV becomes the norm in every home, stations will broadcast a 4x3 digital signal and fill the space on the sides of the consumer's 16x9 monitor w/advertising. The exception will be sporting events and movies.

The national rating of 41.1 was down from last year's 41.3 on CBS

Even a small % fall is to much at those prices, right?

Years ago, the mavens at Saatchi & Saatchi (hoity-toity ad agency), pronounced "the advent of television remote controls won't affect commercial viewership".

Right. Even my old man with his four-button Zenith was outta there when the commercials hit. Took him about 20 seconds to figure it out.

Now? TiVo is a limp lump of tech compared to the goodies coming out of Korea (Check out PVR's in Australia, you'll be shocked!). It is a matter of seconds before some bright spark writes a little program that will let me designate "never want to see this again" segments on TV as I'm recording 2 shows concurrently and watching 2 others.

eHarmony.com will be the first to go.

As for the advertisers? Well, you're going to have to appeal and entertain me, now, aren't you?

A coffee cup and two t-shirts. I doubt Proctor and Gamble is getting all moist.

But I do think doing demographics on here is a hell of a lot easier than on TV. Anyone who has ever worked in marketing/sales knows that measuring advertising is very difficult if not impossible for mass mediums such as TV, newspapers, etc.. Here you can be a lot more focused. You can just ask us. That might work. Seems that their aren't that many people here who are shy about giving their opinions. Or you could just do some high level observations based on what is posted.

I think people on here have a lot in common from a purchasing perspective. And again, the focus shouldn't be on advertising. It should be on selling. Advertising is an expense. Selling is income.