Don't touch that dial

Apparently, network execs are trying to come up with some new ways to keep people from skipping commercials. Apparently the biggest troublemakers are those with DVRs, although, surprisingly, only 6 in 10 viewers skip the commercials using their DVR. Only 6 in 10? There are actually 4 in 10 people out there recording shows, THEN watching the commercials?

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/article/urn:newsml:tv.ap.org:20070528:tv_sneaky_ads__ER:78355

 

I catch my girlfriend doing this.

It depends on how you watch TV, I think.

She often just wants to put something on and zonk out, and doesn't want to be bothered to use the remote all the time.

I subscribe to whoever said that men were genetically predisposed to "what ELSE is on television."

I zap the commercials with glee.

 

Hell, that's the best thing about DVRs. We sometimes don't watch something, just SO we can skip comercials later.

 

Which I guess is what the networks are trying to combat. A test of wills, but I'm worried the networks might win this fight.

 

Yeah, we have a TIVO and skip commercials like they're infected with plague. Like was said, we purposely don't watch stuff we could watch just to record it and skip the commercials later.

But I'm afraid the networks are going to fix this somehow. Without having read the link, I've heard that some are trying to develop commercials such that when they're fast-forwarded through, the quick stills you get of their commercial are still coherent and you get some kind of product awareness from it. Or that some stations/advertisers will work deals with groups like Tivo to make it so their commercials can't be fast-forwarded through.

 

The story mentions that Nielsen is now rating the commercials, too.

 

Advertisers are just figuring out now that we skip commercials?

This isn't a new phenomenon with the advent of DVR/Tivo. You could do the same thing with VCRs years before.

Sure, it's slightly easier now with DVR, but it ain't anything new.

 

Same here. We'll do laundry or clean the house for 15-20 minutes, just so we've caught up enough to FF the commericals.

 

Can't believe 40 percent sit through commercials they don't have to watch.

 

I expect product placement to begin to replace traditional commercial breaks.

 

Anyone see the "30 Rock" rerun Thursday night? Great goofing on product placement!