Today it is hard to go anywhere or do anything without being exposed to advertisements. Whether you are watching television, surfing the web, or walking down the street, you are constantly being bombarded with hundreds of advertisements. You're probably used to this by now and just tune them out, but no one likes to be interrupted by ads when watching their favorite shows.
Television is moving towards the Internet, and the advertisers are following. For the people who seek out entertainment online, they probably find it hard to visit any website or view any video clip without having to see an advertisement. This is so because often times the only revenue a website receives is from advertising. Ads are what keep the websites running.
I recently visited a website called Hulu where you can watch streaming video of several full-length television shows that air on major networks like Fox and NBC. Popular shows include Family Guy, The Simpsons, House, Fringe, and Saturday Night Live. I thought this was great, no need to record programs at home. I can go on Hulu anytime I want and watch an episode of Family Guy. This is all true, but you still can’t skip out on the advertisements.
The commercial breaks come in increments similar to the ones in the television version, but all of the ads in one show are by a single company. At the beginning of the show there is a message saying how this program has been brought to you with limited commercial interruption by so and so company, then often times shows the same commercial over and over during the breaks. This is annoying, but will probably change once Hulu starts to sell more ad space.
Sites like Hulu are probably targeted towards those who use DVRs or TiVo to record programs and then watch them later. These sites are comparable to digital video recorders, but do not allow viewers to fast-forward through the ads like they are capable of doing with shows recorded on DVRs. As technology develops more ways to avoid advertisements, advertisers are coming up with more ways to keep their products constantly in your peripheral vision.
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It happens on alot of internet streamed "shows", but the commercial ussually takes place before the clip, and ends there. The hulu sounds like they click off a bunch of commercials.
ReplyDeleteWell, like you said in your post, this is probably for those who would like a DVR. If you don't want the commercials, and the ability to fast forward and rewind that "baseball to the nads" clip, save up the cash and buy a DVR. Then you could also record those shows on HBo, or whatever premium channel you like.