If you’re old enough, you remember the days when the cigarette companies were allowed to advertise on television. Who could forget those Benson and Hedges “I’d rather fight than switch” commercials, or the surreal ads produced by Salem. These were the creative precursors to the beer commercials and, more recently, those associated with new technologies.
I’m sure every generation up until now has its own version of really cool TV ads that they remember. Whether it’s Super Bowl commercials or visionary ads like that of the 1984 Mac launch, every TV viewer has a favorite era, category, or individual spot. At least until now.
These days the trend is toward getting rid of those pesky ads when it comes to TV. Increasingly, viewers are looking for ways to customize and control their viewing experience.Now maybe it’s because we’re such a busy people, or maybe we’re just fed up with too much information in our daily lives. Whatever the case, we’re moving to a time when only the less fortunate will have to put up with ads on TV. If you can afford to pay for the content or for certain hardware, you’ll never hear another word about Viagra.
Cable movie channels have been providing this luxury for decades. In the last few years, the advent of TiVo and the whole DVR phenomenon has further empowered users to see just the shows and skip the ads. Now, we learn that regular broadcast stations like CBS and NBC are announcing they’ll be providing their hottest prime-time shows without commercials for 99 cents an episode. And if that weren’t enough, there’s the whole distributed arena being ushered in by the iPod phenomenon. Heck, who even needs to turn on their TV anymore? Just download all the shows you want, watch them when you want, and forget about the commercials.
So, you may be asking, where are all the commercials going to go. Well, that’s an easy one. The ads have all gone to the Web! Actually, that’s a bit misleading. It’s not really that TV ads have migrated to the Web — it’s rather that the Web is such a granular and customizable experience, its users have already figured out how to make ads work. In fact, it’s what I like to call the big switch.
You see, the Web is so vast, distributed, and democratic, its users have lots of options when it comes to selecting content with or without commercials. But the biggest reason for the popularity of ads on the Web is that the Web allows wise content providers the option of making them non-invasive. The Web also allows user experiences to be more local than global when it comes to advertising. Ads are more targeted and there’s a greater chance they might actually have something to do with who you are (as opposed to the pharmaceutical ads that I get on every TV channel that actually have nothing to do with me).
Even more important, perhaps, is the fact that the Web allows people besides the big companies to make money off of advertising. Google announced today that it was extending the benefits of its ad-sense program, a move that will reward Web site owners for signing up other ad-sense members. The Google plan is great because you make money simply be letting Google list ads on your site. If you have a lot of traffic you stand a good chance to make some cash.
Ads on the Web can also help keep some content freely available (like with Salon.com). Maybe we tolerate them on the Web because they’re mostly text-based and easier to ignore. Maybe it’s because we think of the Web as an asynchronous experience anyway and it’s really okay if we get interrupted for a moment or two. Or maybe it’s just that we find the Web so convenient and necessary that we don’t mind paying a little tax.
One thing’s for sure — the advertisers aren’t crazy. They see the shifts away from TV and traditional movie theatres to the Web, DVD’s, gaming, and handheld devices. They’re already migrating with the audiences.
What makes me sad is simply that the upcoming generation may never get to enjoy the same TV commercial excitement that the rest of us have. Of course that may be like saying they won’t have the pleasure of going through hazing. But they will have the opportunity to witness the growth of the next ad frontier and witness all the new and clever ways that product owners try to get them to spend their money.
And, whether we like it or not, this will increasingly extend to educational content. The Web, as we are understanding all too well, is not really a free ride. Somebody has to pay for all this and big companies like google are only too happy to oblige.
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