4 ms·

Indeed, 50% advertising seems outright ridiculous. Want to watch a 2-hours film? You'll watch two hours (!) of advertising. That's silly.

zipwitch 9y ago
My memory is that ~20 years ago or so bottom-tier cable networks would get to that point during off-peak hours. I had to be tremendously bored before even contemplating watching them, but it happened a time or two - and I discovered that that much advertising did make pretty much anything unwatchable.
flukus 9y ago
Or they'll just cut out part of the movie and give you 90 minutes of ads with 90 minutes of movie. Australian free to air networks have done this.
- dvtv75 9y ago
  I saw that a few times in New Zealand, too. I think I've seen TV shows lose scenes and lines for more ads, as well. What really got me was back when the Battlestar Galactica pilot screened on TV. I was very keen to see it, and heard the pilot was three hours three minutes long. It was split up, on TV3 I think, into two 180 minute slots, which means there were almost as many minutes of ads as there were of the show. I had to turn it off after one scene was interrupted in the middle for an ad-break that was longer than the scene, then we came back for a single line (now out-of-context) and one camera change, then cut to another break. (For reference, it was a scene with the nuke hitting the Galactica, then six minutes of ads interrupted by about 25 seconds of show.) I turned off my TV, found an email address, and explained to them just why I was going to buy the DVD and not watch another second of their broadcast. TV advertising is so intrusive these days that I haven't watched broadcast TV in years.
- breakingcups 9y ago
  Or they will speed up the original movie or show so they can fit more ads. https://lifehacker.com/network-television-stations-speed-up-tv-shows-to-fit-in-1797131517 https://lifehacker.com/network-television-stations-speed-up-...
rypskar 9y ago
Isn't that how super bowl works? Did try to see it once but was more ads than play. Not sure if all American "football" matches are like that or if it's only the final
- isostatic 9y ago
  My understanding is that Super Bowl adverts are more interesting than rugby-with-helmets We don't watch adverts - Netflix, amazon, IPlayer. However each year we do make an effort to hunt out the Christmas adverts on YouTube -- John Lewis, Sainsbury's, Tesco etc. Adverts cost a fortune. If 10 million people watch a half hour program, that's 1.5m hours of wasted time - costing something like $20m. Then you end up paying through increased prices of the goods being advertised (there's obviously a return on investment)
- aeleos 9y ago
  The Superbowl has sort of grown to become a traition where big companies fight to pay exorbitant amounts to play ads that are generally mildly more entertaining than the usual garbage. Its pretty specific to only the Superbowl, as its the most televised event in total viewership (at over 100 million). It is a lot of ads, but since football has a lot of ads anyway (more than normal TV) it isnt too abnormal. Football has a lot of ads because there is a lot of stopping during the game for time outs and such.
  - lovemenot 9y ago
    >> Football has a lot of ads because there is a lot of stopping during the game for time outs and such. I'd always assumed the causation arrow was in the opposite direction. Or at least a big reason a sport is popular in the US is its ad-friendliness. The other kind of football is flowing and therefore less attractive to ad supported TV networks.
    - cafard 9y ago
      TV has certainly increased the number of timeouts in college and professional football. However, the whole business of spotting the ball, lining the teams up, maybe huddling, means that American football has never been flowing to the degree that the other football is.

zipwitch 9y ago

My memory is that ~20 years ago or so bottom-tier cable networks would get to that point during off-peak hours. I had to be tremendously bored before even contemplating watching them, but it happened a time or two - and I discovered that that much advertising did make pretty much anything unwatchable.

flukus 9y ago

Or they'll just cut out part of the movie and give you 90 minutes of ads with 90 minutes of movie. Australian free to air networks have done this.

dvtv75 9y ago
I saw that a few times in New Zealand, too. I think I've seen TV shows lose scenes and lines for more ads, as well. What really got me was back when the Battlestar Galactica pilot screened on TV. I was very keen to see it, and heard the pilot was three hours three minutes long. It was split up, on TV3 I think, into two 180 minute slots, which means there were almost as many minutes of ads as there were of the show. I had to turn it off after one scene was interrupted in the middle for an ad-break that was longer than the scene, then we came back for a single line (now out-of-context) and one camera change, then cut to another break. (For reference, it was a scene with the nuke hitting the Galactica, then six minutes of ads interrupted by about 25 seconds of show.) I turned off my TV, found an email address, and explained to them just why I was going to buy the DVD and not watch another second of their broadcast. TV advertising is so intrusive these days that I haven't watched broadcast TV in years.
breakingcups 9y ago
Or they will speed up the original movie or show so they can fit more ads. https://lifehacker.com/network-television-stations-speed-up-tv-shows-to-fit-in-1797131517 https://lifehacker.com/network-television-stations-speed-up-...

rypskar 9y ago

Isn't that how super bowl works? Did try to see it once but was more ads than play. Not sure if all American "football" matches are like that or if it's only the final

isostatic 9y ago
My understanding is that Super Bowl adverts are more interesting than rugby-with-helmets We don't watch adverts - Netflix, amazon, IPlayer. However each year we do make an effort to hunt out the Christmas adverts on YouTube -- John Lewis, Sainsbury's, Tesco etc. Adverts cost a fortune. If 10 million people watch a half hour program, that's 1.5m hours of wasted time - costing something like $20m. Then you end up paying through increased prices of the goods being advertised (there's obviously a return on investment)
aeleos 9y ago
The Superbowl has sort of grown to become a traition where big companies fight to pay exorbitant amounts to play ads that are generally mildly more entertaining than the usual garbage. Its pretty specific to only the Superbowl, as its the most televised event in total viewership (at over 100 million). It is a lot of ads, but since football has a lot of ads anyway (more than normal TV) it isnt too abnormal. Football has a lot of ads because there is a lot of stopping during the game for time outs and such.
- lovemenot 9y ago
  >> Football has a lot of ads because there is a lot of stopping during the game for time outs and such. I'd always assumed the causation arrow was in the opposite direction. Or at least a big reason a sport is popular in the US is its ad-friendliness. The other kind of football is flowing and therefore less attractive to ad supported TV networks.
  - cafard 9y ago
    TV has certainly increased the number of timeouts in college and professional football. However, the whole business of spotting the ball, lining the teams up, maybe huddling, means that American football has never been flowing to the degree that the other football is.