IBM wants commercials DURING DVD movies

[SatStorm]

I can't watch bloomberg TV just because of this that you say! It makes me dizzy!

They did someting like this you said with the SMS messages and the live chats on the European music channels. Europeans eventually stopped watching them and those turned to reality show channels so to keep the viewers (The European local versions of MTV is the best example). For the music industry, that was another sign that people don't care anymore for music. They failed to see that people simply hates to see music videos with SMS, flashing messages, animation logos, infos / news / etc on the screen.

I mean, can you watch a music video like this?



(that's from Poland BTW)

[rijir2001]

...Currently the "On Demand" (Comcast) and "In Demand" (Time Warner) video on demand (VOD) channels are commercial free...

Not so.
I have Comcast and use On Demand regularly. Every single thing I have watched via their On Demand was preceded by at least one advertisement.
True, there were no ads DURING the video, but I still consider 1 or 2 ads before to not be commercial free.

Almost every time I watch an On Demand movie on Comcast there is an add right in the middle of the film.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I can't watch bloomberg TV just because of this that you say! It makes me dizzy!

They did someting like this you said with the SMS messages and the live chats on the European music channels. Europeans eventually stopped watching them and those turned to reality show channels so to keep the viewers (The European local versions of MTV is the best example). For the music industry, that was another sign that people don't care anymore for music. They failed to see that people simply hates to see music videos with SMS, flashing messages, animation logos, infos / news / etc on the screen.

To me, the first true offender in this way was VH1's "Pop-up Video". Annoying noises and deliberate "spoiling" of the video by the addition of stupid blobs of text. It was an all around success for three reasons:

1. Who knows why but a lot of people loved it (the McDonalds/Bud/Coke/Kool-Aid brigade, I suspect)
2. The video was spoiled to deter recording
3. The audio was spoiled to deter recording

All of today's onscreen weirdness (logos, animations, inset clips from upcoming programs etc) serves one primary purpose - spoil the video to deter recording

[edDV]

...Currently the "On Demand" (Comcast) and "In Demand" (Time Warner) video on demand (VOD) channels are commercial free...

Not so.
I have Comcast and use On Demand regularly. Every single thing I have watched via their On Demand was preceded by at least one advertisement.
True, there were no ads DURING the video, but I still consider 1 or 2 ads before to not be commercial free.

Almost every time I watch an On Demand movie on Comcast there is an add right in the middle of the film.

Here most movies play straight through. Sources like "Discovery" or "National Geographic" may have promos at the beginning but not during. Most moives play straight through. I hope it stays that way for a while.

[DereX888]

I mean, can you watch a music video like this?

at first I was "LOL" but it is just horrible
what kind of an idiots watch it like this?!

[thecoalman]

at first I was "LOL" but it is just horrible

I'm going to get hit by lighting because I agree with you.

I thought some of the stuff in the US was bad but that is almost pointless to watch.

[SatStorm]

Here some more snaps from European music channels.
Just imagine DVDs with adds end up like this one day!

From Czechia



From Germany



And my favorite: From Viva Polska (a Viacom Channel).
You see those dummies in the bottom left of the screen? Those are something like camasutra lessons and people send SMS to learn about how to do the positions!!!



You won't see something like that easy in the USA.


Finally, here is one from the UK. It's like Bloomberg in design, but shows music videos

[Constant Gardener]

Gee. I thought network logos were bad.

[Wile_E]

Those ads are awful! Now I understand why USENET is so popular.

I have a few DVD's that show unskippable ads at the beginning of the disc. "Robots" DVD comes to mind. It has 3-4 ads for other movies at the beginning, before the main menu comes up. You can't skip them to get to main menu! So I used VOBblanker to get rid of them.

[DereX888]

at first I was "LOL" but it is just horrible

I'm going to get hit by lighting because I agree with you.

oy, that scares me too
I hope youre not sick and feeling well?!


"its the end of the world as you know it..."

I thought some of the stuff in the US was bad but that is almost pointless to watch.

are you kidding?
Thats not a "television", that is a pure brainwashing / constantly-ad-delivering device!
It is corporations' dream come true, and it is already here - in some of euro tv!
You bet it will be in America very shortly, no broadcaster will pass on such goose laying golden eggs.
Man, few commercials aired at once in the same time on a single channel?! Brilliant!
Now *that* is business

From Czechia

sat, my Greek forum friend, please don't insult my ancestors... It is Czech... unless you meant some another one-of-500 tiny euro contries I haven't heard of (Hell-adia perhaps? :P )

[TJK1911]

As regards advertising in general, here's a thought - why don't the advertisers make commercials that people would want to watch? Does anyone here remember adcritic.com? One of the great mysteries of all time to me is why a site that contained nothing but advertisements, that people could download and watch over and over, and discuss and send to their friends, would be shut down. Seems like advertising nirvana to me, yet the site was unable to make enough money to cover its bandwidth costs. It then became a subscription pay site - insanity!

http://www.news.com/Popularity-forces-Adcritic-shutdown/2110-1023_3-277172.html?tag=st.rn
http://www.news.com/2100-1023-948833.html

Anyway, commercials in the middle of a DVD is a horrible idea. But if they want to put some on the disc that could be accessed via the menu and are entertaining enough to merit watching - that could be okay.

[Taterbug]

I have to admit those ads are as about as bad as they come. Obstructing the video. If the ads were unobtrusive, silent and did not obscure the video there could be a place for them. Obviously they would still be more distracting than by using product placement in the film itself. Remember these would probably be dvds that you haven't paid for. They would be an alternative to buying the dvd. Alot of folks can't justify spending $20 or more for a dvd. Many people, myself included, still watch channels that have commercials during the program. Though I often tivo it and watch it later, fast forwarding through commercials.

[SatStorm]

off topic:
DereX888, I am sorry! I just wrote "Czech Rep." in the way that we pronounce it in Hellas! (yeap, low level broken English!)
We call it "Czechia" here...

[yoda313]

Hey maybe this will push everyone to hddvd/bluray!!!!

If they become the only "commercial free" way to watch movies then they will finally be accepted.

Only trouble is BLURAY would probably want the commercials to help offset the copy protection costs and screw everybody that way. Maybe HDDVD would be the one to say no and finally win out in the end!!!

Well I can dream anyway.....

[gadgetguy]

... Remember these would probably be dvds that you haven't paid for. They would be an alternative to buying the dvd.

Not according to the article in the original post:

The scheme, which is a terrible abuse of consumers, will allow purchasers to either purchase or rent the movie at the current standard rate with commercial interruption or pay extra money to have it commercial-free.

[jagabo]

As regards advertising in general, here's a thought - why don't the advertisers make commercials that people would want to watch?

Even the best ads get tedious after you've seen them dozens of times.

[Taterbug]

It is outrageous if you have to pay to watch and still have commercials.

[ViRaL1]

It is outrageous if you have to pay to watch and still have commercials.

That's on of the things I hate about going to the movies these days.

[rayden54]

I can shorten that to 1 word: VOBBlanker

Unfortunately, until dual layer DVDs drop in price, those of us who want to preserve more than the main movie are pretty much SOL. You can still split 'em, compress 'em, etc. but it's a pain.

If those DVD with the adds give me the latest Hollywood movies at a cost around 5$ or less, I don't have any problem with this.

Where'd that idea come from? This article makes it sound like you'll be paying the normal price for the ad-laden version and $5 more for an "ad-free" one. Oh, they'll probably spin it so the consumer thinks it's a good deal, just like they did with the Special Edition DVDs.

[Nitemare]

I think the whole article is bogus. IBM doesn't even make commercial DVDs do they? IF they invented the technology behind it, that's one thing ... but who would buy it? It would only increase piracy. The MPAA has to know that.

[DereX888]

It is outrageous if you have to pay to watch and still have commercials.

That's on of the things I hate about going to the movies these days.

Never go to the movies during premiere weekend, go next or 2 weeks later, or during weekday (actually Sunday and Monday last screening seems best - we usually have entire room for ourselves), and when you go, never go on time. Be seated about 15 minutes late and you are most likely to miss 90% of the pre-movie advertising.
And if youre in Europe or Asia its even easier since you can select and buy best seats week in advance...

[rayden54]

One good thing about commercials in the theaters though: you're never late for the movie. You've even got time to get concessions.

Now, if they had commercials during the movie, I'd leave.