TBS ups the ante on annoying commerical insertion

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TBS ups the ante on annoying commerical insertion

My friend Jason caught TBS going to extraordinary lengths to get people to view an ad about an upcoming show by having an overlay character "walk on" and "pause" the current running show to plug their own show, then the original show was resumed, but right before a real commercial, producing an incredibly annoying result.

It shouldn't be surprising to hear this was the work of Turner Broadcasting, the same company that once proclaimed anyone getting up to use the bathroom during commerical breaks was stealing TV.

With the advent of DVR devices, networks began an arms race to get around commercial skipping: first came product placement, then the overlay ads, and now I'm seeing commercials that seem purposely slowed down so they appear readable during fast forwarding. Turner's latest trick is easily the worst of the lot -- you can't simply skip or fast forward the short ad break and instead have to endure it as the show hangs until it is over.

It's a race to the bottom to see how much you can annoy viewers with ads before they'll give up and look elsewhere for entertainment -- I hope this latest attempt by Turner isn't long for this world.

by Matt Haughey June 4, 2008 in News

Comments

OH Gosh!! I saw this last night. Man that is so annoying. This right here makes me not want to watch TBS at all. We will see who else starts doing this.

Posted by: Rothgar at Jun 4, 2008 10:50:08 AM

Wow, I've seen some annoying overlay ads before, but this one really takes the cake. Pausing the real show to pimp this other (probably stupid) show? Yuck. Good thing I never really watch TBS.

Posted by: Josh at Jun 4, 2008 11:40:09 AM

Yeah, I have a TiVo and when the show paused I went looking for my remote. I figured I had accidentally hit the Pause button. When I heard some talking, "Hey, their dog's name is Brian and my son's name is Brian. Watch my show", I was frozen with confusion, then I quickly became enraged. TBS popped these adds in the middle of some of Family Guy's punch lines; in the middle of the characters' sentences. I actually had a few friends of mine also turn on the show to witness this new ad campaign. Most said they would not turn on TBS with ads like that hidden in programs. I certainly won't. Definitely a new low.

Posted by: Mattiam at Jun 4, 2008 12:15:34 PM

I have to say that I actually prefer this to the supposedly see-through promos that networks overlay on their shows without pausing them. Way too many times those overlays have covered up important stuff, such as captioning, at the bottom of the screen. If it's too much to ask for the inconsiderate jerks at the networks to coordinate the timing of the overlays with what is on the screen, then fine, pause it instead. At least that way I don't permanently miss part of the show.

Posted by: Smithee at Jun 4, 2008 7:56:24 PM

I don't think any of these network execs have the first clue about how to do anything with some grace. Its kind of pathetic really. I missed this latest stupidity but I can guarantee (are you reading this, network execubots?) that I will make a point to never watch any show that resorts to this pathetic and stupid tactic.

If a company wants me to watch their ad then they need to make it watchable and entertaining. Otherwise I'm not just fast forwarding but hitting my 30 second skip and won't even see it.

Posted by: Erik at Jun 5, 2008 10:54:29 AM

This is one more reason to pay for and download TV shows from Unbox or AppleTV.

Posted by: tinach at Jun 5, 2008 3:38:31 PM

If you dislike it, then just stop watching this network. It's a pretty crappy network anyway, far better TV elsewhere. There doing it because it "works".

I've had this network skipped on my system for 2+ years because of this marketing junk.

Posted by: Frank at Jun 9, 2008 9:58:06 PM

that's almost as bad as google ads placed within the body copy of a website

Posted by: razz at Jun 24, 2008 3:20:53 PM

Nobody would watch that Bill Engvall mediocrity without a firebomb ad campaign.

Posted by: EH at Jun 29, 2008 2:14:40 PM