4 ms·

I hate broadcast television so much. How did I ever watch those unskippable ads? I must have been taking a lot of breaks from watching TV to do things.

consumer451 3y ago
> I must have been taking a lot of breaks from watching TV to do things. Or you (we) watched mindlessly because it was a moving image, and humans are evolved to keep an eye on such things to identify predator/prey.
gdulli 3y ago
TV ads haven't been unskippable since Tivo came out in 1999. Try exercising that much control over an internet stream these days. We're going to look back at cable/DVRs as the last time advertising was strongly separated from content, without microtargeting, and easily skippable with the ability to arbitrarily navigate ahead/back in the video stream. Although I will say if I do watch something live I don't find it annoying to mute the commercial and get up or use my phone during that break. What's more important to me is that it's a hard separation from the content. Baseball is the one thing that's no longer watchable to me at all. The announcers read ads between pitches/at-bats. Muting doesn't work for the frequent 10 second ads that can come anytime during the programming.
- hot_gril 3y ago
  Tivo wasn't helpful for anything live, but yeah, it was amazing that we had it.
  - lockhouse 3y ago
    The trick was to not watch anything live. If you waited until at least a third of the show was over you were usually good to go.
    - hot_gril 3y ago
      I get that you can watch a sports match an hour or so behind, but it's not the same. For a pre-made TV show it's fine.
      - bookofjoe 3y ago
        And also the enjoyment-wrecking results streaming across the bottom of the screen.
- derbOac 3y ago
  What's funny is that even when you're at a sports event you can end up waiting for ad time even if you're not exposed to the ads.
  - bookofjoe 3y ago
    So true. I stopped going to televised football games because of the interminable breaks between plays/quarters and eternity of halftime.
- Am4TIfIsER0ppos 3y ago
  > TV ads haven't been unskippable since Tivo came out in 1999 My cable company says hello. Their set top box now has unskippable ads thanks to software updated and MPEG TS signalling.
- bookofjoe 3y ago
  Baseball has almost reached that point for me. Those half-screen ads between pitches are well and truly evil.
derbOac 3y ago
I understand broadcast and am worried about its state, not just in tv but also radio. I think it serves a vital role. Not everything has extensive ads. Sometimes I wonder if licensing needs to be more consumer friendly, for the media's own sake if nothing else. I do think we used to learn how to allocate attention around ads more. Usually it involved doing other things. Sometimes honestly it wasn't a bad thing as it broke your attention to the media. Cable is my least favorite thing now, per the article. Streaming or broadcast make more sense to me (although streaming is headed to its own self-imposed problems, with packages). Ideally I'd be able to pay for individual products streaming, and get a good mix of locally and otherwise run broadcast outlets.

consumer451 3y ago

> I must have been taking a lot of breaks from watching TV to do things. Or you (we) watched mindlessly because it was a moving image, and humans are evolved to keep an eye on such things to identify predator/prey.

gdulli 3y ago

TV ads haven't been unskippable since Tivo came out in 1999. Try exercising that much control over an internet stream these days. We're going to look back at cable/DVRs as the last time advertising was strongly separated from content, without microtargeting, and easily skippable with the ability to arbitrarily navigate ahead/back in the video stream. Although I will say if I do watch something live I don't find it annoying to mute the commercial and get up or use my phone during that break. What's more important to me is that it's a hard separation from the content. Baseball is the one thing that's no longer watchable to me at all. The announcers read ads between pitches/at-bats. Muting doesn't work for the frequent 10 second ads that can come anytime during the programming.

hot_gril 3y ago
Tivo wasn't helpful for anything live, but yeah, it was amazing that we had it.
- lockhouse 3y ago
  The trick was to not watch anything live. If you waited until at least a third of the show was over you were usually good to go.
  - hot_gril 3y ago
    I get that you can watch a sports match an hour or so behind, but it's not the same. For a pre-made TV show it's fine.
    - bookofjoe 3y ago
      And also the enjoyment-wrecking results streaming across the bottom of the screen.
derbOac 3y ago
What's funny is that even when you're at a sports event you can end up waiting for ad time even if you're not exposed to the ads.
- bookofjoe 3y ago
  So true. I stopped going to televised football games because of the interminable breaks between plays/quarters and eternity of halftime.
Am4TIfIsER0ppos 3y ago
> TV ads haven't been unskippable since Tivo came out in 1999 My cable company says hello. Their set top box now has unskippable ads thanks to software updated and MPEG TS signalling.
bookofjoe 3y ago
Baseball has almost reached that point for me. Those half-screen ads between pitches are well and truly evil.

derbOac 3y ago

I understand broadcast and am worried about its state, not just in tv but also radio. I think it serves a vital role. Not everything has extensive ads. Sometimes I wonder if licensing needs to be more consumer friendly, for the media's own sake if nothing else. I do think we used to learn how to allocate attention around ads more. Usually it involved doing other things. Sometimes honestly it wasn't a bad thing as it broke your attention to the media. Cable is my least favorite thing now, per the article. Streaming or broadcast make more sense to me (although streaming is headed to its own self-imposed problems, with packages). Ideally I'd be able to pay for individual products streaming, and get a good mix of locally and otherwise run broadcast outlets.