My friend has a Humax box, one of those Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) that lets you record and rewind live television programmes so that you only watch what you really want. He has a stack of shows recorded for when there’s nothing else on TV, and there’s no time wasted sitting through adverts. I think it’s brilliant. In fact, I probably see a lot more of my friend since he’s bought his Humax box than I ever did before. Come to think of it, it’s possible that television is the only thing we have in common…
But if we’re sitting there fast-forwarding every time there’s an ad break, what does this mean for advertisers? Surely they can’t be thrilled about dishing out cash to broadcasters for the privilege of being skipped.
Ofcom’s got onto this one. In July it relaxed restrictions on television advertising so that broadcasters are no longer required to leave 20-minute gaps between breaks within programmes. The idea is that it will make commercial breaks less disruptive for viewers and more lucrative for broadcasters.
I’m not convinced. Those of us aware of the technicalities of using a PVR know that only the first and last slots in an ad break tend to get any attention. More frequent breaks mean more first and last slots. The regulation tweaks certainly seem designed to please advertisers rather than viewers. I wonder where all this will lead – premium prices for first and last advertising slots perhaps?
One thing’s for sure at least – the more ads that disrupt my normal television viewing, the more I’ll be seeing of my friend.
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