Sitting in a movie theatre yesterday and watching the pre-feature ads -which I had seen before and pretty much mentally blocked out - begs an answer to the age old issue of how to get viewers to watch ads?
Problem: Viewers hate commercials.
Solution: Let viewers choose the ads they watch.
Can we pretty much agree that viewers hate commercials. Yet the business models of broadcasters and webcasters alike depend on ad revenue for their
very being. However, this is about to change!
Both Hulu and YouTube are experimenting with formats that give users the option of clicking an "ad swap button" and replacing the commercial they are watching. Not only swapping but once the webcasters get enough profile data on which ads a viewer likes they will be given choices that are of interest to them.
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| Icons on a Hulu screen allow for "ad swapping" |
YouTube offers "skippable ads", where users are allowed to end the ad after five seconds, and no replacement follows, the program simply resumes. Under this format, the advertiser is charged only when users have chosen to watch the ad. Advertisers like this, as they are assured that viewers who stuck around to watch the ad did so by choice.
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| Related "ad swap" options from a single company |
Whichever model is used, I am sure that individualized advertising will be in all of our futures. Collecting data on what we purchase, where, and how and customizing ads around our "digital' profile is inevitable.
Best & Happy Shopping
Jim Lavorato
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