Trying to outsmart TIVO?

[mickeyd]

I noticed something last night that I think is a change in the way that TV networks are trying to beat TIVO by incorporating product placements into the storyline of a program.

In NBC's "The Office" a character was observed shredding greens for a salad in a paper shredder and another character asked where he got the salad from and the guy says "From Staples". It was a funny throw-away line at the time. A Staples commercial for that exact shredder was aired right after or before that as I recall.

On NBC's "30 Rock", the "writers" in the sketch are wrestling with how they can work product placement of GE products (NBC's parent) into their sketches. One of the characters disagrees with this blatant product placements in the "show" and then takes a sip of a Snapple bottle containing some new Snapple product and comments favorably on the product. Cut to commercial...you guessed it...for Snapple product that the character was sipping. Pretty slick.

Take that TIVO....

 

[Patrick]

Hopefully they will expand that strategy and get rid of regular commercials completely.

 

[mickeyd]

OOPS!!! I just realized that I posted this under FIRE and Money and I should have posted under Other Topics.

My mistake. So sorry all. I'm sure that it will get moved.

 

[CCdaCE]

Ahh, so that's why I've turned the TV off. Because they took potentially decent shows and turned them into commercials?

-CC

 

[TromboneAl]

Yes, there was a window of 8 years or so during which you could completely escape commercials by fast forwarding.

The worst byproduct of this is the advertising on the lower half of the screen during regular viewing. Sometimes it takes up over 25% of the screen, and it's always made to intentionally distract you from your show. Even PBS does this.

 

[scrinch]

#$^&%@#!!!....then cut away to Viagra commercial!

 

[Nords]

...then cut away to Viagra commercial!

There's a product placement that I'm not interested in seeing!

 

[Zathras]

The worst byproduct of this is the advertising on the lower half of the screen during regular viewing. Sometimes it takes up over 25% of the screen, and it's always made to intentionally distract you from your show. Even PBS does this.

Al, I am interested in where you see this as I never have, on any channel (with the exception of the TVguide channel).
Is it a DirectTV thing by chance?

 

[greg]

Is it a DirectTV thing by chance?

It's also the DISH thing--but not by chance. I think it all started with those little channel identifiers in the right bottom corner of the screen, the little icons that say "SciFi" or "MSNBC" and just sort of linger there. Now "they" have transformed them into animated little bottom-third-of-the-TV revenue stream pop-ups. Not that there's anything right with that, considering my DISH bill and the twenty minutes/hour of full screen advertising I put up with anyway.

 

[Brat]

Product placement has been in use for at least 15 years.

 

[Khan]

Product placement has been in use for at least 15 years.

Product placement was around in the '60s.

There was a show "The F.B.I." from '65 to '74. It was sponsored by Ford. Whenever a car was shown backing out of a parking space, it backed up until the word "FORD" could be read on the screen, hesitated a second, then drove away.

 

[mickeyd]

Product placement was around in the '60s.

It's probably been around forever but to connect the storyline of the program with a follow-up paid commercial is a new twist to an old idea I think.

 

[Khan]

It's probably been around forever but to connect the storyline of the program with a follow-up paid commercial is a new twist to an old idea I think.

Indeed.

I watch very little TV, so I don't know about all these advances in advertising.

But then, I'm probably not the demographic they want (over 40).

 

[Zathras]

Thanks Greg. I have toyed with the idea of DirectTV/Dish from time to time. Think I will stick with Cable with that in mind.

 

[Patrick]

Thanks Greg. I have toyed with the idea of DirectTV/Dish from time to time. Think I will stick with Cable with that in mind.

I don't see that type of ad with my Dish Network service.