ABC Looks Beyond Upfront To DVR, Commercial Ratings Issues
So basically, Mike Shaw, ABC’s President of Advertising Sales, said that he “would love it if the MSOs [cable companies], during the deployment of the new DVRs they’re putting out there, would disable the fast-forward [button].”
Here’s some quotes from the director of Advertising and Sales at ABC:
“They’ve got to sell ads too,” he said. “So if everybody’s skipping everybody’s ads, that’s not a long-term business model for them either.”
“I’m not so sure that the whole issue really is one of commercial avoidance,” Shaw said. “It really is a matter of convenience–so you don’t miss your favorite show. And quite frankly, we’re just training a new generation of viewers to skip commercials because they can. I’m not sure that the driving reason to get a DVR in the first place is just to skip commercials. I don’t fundamentally believe that. People can understand in order to have convenience and on-demand (options), that you can’t skip commercials.”
DVR Technology is a wonderful thing, and I’m pretty sure everyone agrees on that. It seems the convenience factor is the main reason we buy almost anything. I mean, if it wasn’t for convenience, we’d all probably be eating natural healthy food bought at local farmer’s markets.
Shaw too the position that we as consumers don’t see fast forwarding as part of the package.? As if we didn’t expect to have FF or RW on any other media recorder that’s ever been made.? Now remember, this guy is in charge of all Advertising for ABC.? That means he’s their top salesman.
I mean, marketing departments are already manipulating reality, and clearly product placement is taking over everything.? It just doesn’t seem like a good business to put your clients needs (in this case, companies buying advertising time from ABC), so ridiculously far above the good of the public.? In fact, I bet some of the people buying the ad time over at ABC have DVRs in their homes.? And I bet they use fast forward.
Of course, here’s the best Shaw quote of all:
“Obviously, going back to last February, if I knew nobody else on the entire sell-side of the equation was going to open their mouths besides us, I don’t know if we would have gone down the same track,”
So basically, Shaw thought there was going to be a chorus of corporate harmony backing up his statement. This means that many people in the advertising sectors of television probably share Mr. Shaw’s opinion.
It’s bad enough that the very aesthetic of our lives are being eroded into a buy by the piece world where you can have anything you like.
I submit this as further proof that these major corporate types are completely out of touch with reality, and further proof that entertainment and art as revenue streams is truly entering post-capitalism*.
* By post capitalism, I refer to the fact that the supply has met or exceeded the demand when it comes to media.? All you need to go is try to find some media to consume (or buy), and you’ll immediately see that it feels like your options for spending money on enetrtainment is limitless.
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