Have Americans got short attention spans or why do they need so many adds in there TV

AMKC

Programs and shows?

Dr. Bre

Australia also . Adds every 2 minutes

Hurrache

Money, so networks rake in the money, that's it.

retalivity

They could do with subtracting a few alright. Just multiplies problems and causes division

EmmetSpiceland

No one enjoys ads.

buried

You only noticed this now? Their whole society is founded on the works of Edward Bernays and that lad was slithered out in 1891.

OneEightSeven

More ads = more money.

We Europeans like to regulate things for quality control.

AMKC

buried wrote: »

You only noticed this now? Their whole society is founded on the works of Edward Bernays and that lad was slithered out in 1891.

No I always knew about it. It's just the amount of them do ever 10 minutes. Am watching the Oprah with Harry and Meghan interview and then another break 5 minutes later crazy.

Harry Palmr

I think the ad breaks thing as we now know it developed when sport ("sports") became a big draw on TV - a "play" would last a few minutes at most and then a pause which is time for a 30-60 second break

DubLad69

It's strange alright. I'm watching that Royal Family interview now. And it seems as though it was recorded in a way to allow ad breaks every 7 minutes.

The DayDream

Boards have some bitterness towards the yanks bloody hell everything is because of some american stereotype on here.

The ads are annoying but it's not to do with attention spans, it's to do with money.

Ever think about how they don't have to pay a TV license over there to pay the salaries if untalented planks like Tubridy? Most people have pay channels but there are about a dozen free channels that have way, way better programming than the garbage on RTE, including lots of live sport.

I'd rather sit through some ads (or get up and do something else when they're on, or record the shows and fast forward through them), then pay for the 'terms and conditions of living in Ireland.' which ive never paid anyway.

The ads here and in the UK are no treat. Sure there are less but you can't watch sport without a million ads trying to turn you into a responsible gambling addict.

Or else it's, 'Get em up there, girls!' which you would never see over there in a daytime ad.

Atlantic Dawn

Typically an hour of TV here will go to an hour and a half over there, not far off unwatchable.

Harry Palmr

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Typically an hour of TV here will go to an hour and a half over there, not far off unwatchable.

On those rare occasions that the BBC buys in an American network comedy they always put two back to back as they only last 20 minutes including credits. Actually it works quite well.

drake70

While the quantity of ad breaks is annoying, why do they feel the need to recap the previous segment after an ad break in documentaries.

Harry Palmr

Ah now it's time for Mitchell and Webb (the Americans love this sketch on youtube as it speaks to them)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MFtl2XXnUc

Snotty

The DayDream wrote: »

The ads are annoying but it's not to do with attention spans, it's to do with money.

Pretty sure there have been a lot of studies done and it is attention span, its one of the reason the popular American televised sports are so different to European counterpart, 30-45 minutes of continuous action is not what the public want.

AMKC

The Harry and Meghan interview thing was actually very good. Learned a lot from it. Certainly not a life I would enjoy. It looks great but no real freedom mo thanks. Stuck in the house for 4 months and only got out twice and this was before Covid by the way. No wonder she had the dark thoughts and contemplated suicide. Would have been so sad but I actually think there was some in the institution that is Westminster that wanted that to happen. Disgusting if that is so. Glad all is good with them now. They are much happier now and it shows.

Strumms

Corporate culture is more of a thing to worship over there.

They even have the half time of sports events ‘sponsored’...and periods / halves of games brought to you by xxxxx

Some years ago there was a lobby wanting 3 periods a la ice hockey, in soccer so more advertising could be aimed at people... three thirty minute periods, five / ten and five minute breaks...

Imagine here, you are at dalymount and an announcement... this corner kick is sponsored by Brennan’s Bread, today’s bread today... please just fûck off...

The corporate Nazi wankbags will soon be looking to program every skybox so you can’t change the channel at an add break unless you’ve watched the first two adds... you just know it’s been mentioned at meetings...

murpho999

Dr. Bre wrote: »

Australia also . Adds every 2 minutes

Are you sure you're not watching a science channel with all this addition they're doing?

wandererz

So, what do you prefer?

Complaining about RTE or complaining about US TV?

Has the OP Neva Eva watched a US show, documentary etc?

If you think you have, then please do so again, this time using a VPN located in the US.

You will soon learn to love the Ads.!

Tell me how

drake70 wrote: »

While the quantity of ad breaks is annoying, why do they feel the need to recap the previous segment after an ad break in documentaries.

Filler I expect.

Last 30 seconds before the ad is a bait to try to ensure you don't leave. 'If they don't work this out, their whole project could be in jeopardy.'
First 30 seconds after the ad, recap the previous segment as you say. All of these portions are filled with already seen footage meaning less footage has to be produced.

Or maybe they have worked out that people channel hop during commercials and that commercials largely overlap and so they try to grasp someone who lands on their channel as they show resumes.

All US media is about eyeballs. Even when you attend shows or sporting events, there is someone vying for your attention all. the. time. The 'natives' seem to be accustomed to it but it is the epitome of commercialization. No wonder streaming services initially stole a march on them. That wheel is turning with the networks first launching their own platforms and now, I understand ads being introduced on them also.

Quantum Erasure

Coming up after the break: a recap of what you've just watched

moonage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_htZmctK0M

Peregrinus

AMKC wrote: »

Programs and shows?

Because the only reason they bother with programs and shows at all is so that they have an audience for the ads. The ads are the point of the whole thing.

NeuralNetwork

There are plenty of ad free / low advert frequency channels in the USA too, but they’re subscription based.

We just regulate free to air tv more and confine the ads to every 15 minutes and public service tv is subsided or entirely funded from the licence fee.

Also product placement is much more regulated here. If you’ve ever noticed American talk-show hosts name drop products, it’s not cultural, it’s paid for.

fritzelly

It's because...

...what was the question?

Tell me how

fritzelly wrote: »

It's because...

...what was the question?

Come back after the break to find out...

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Apaprently, they show 14 - 17 mins of ads per hour in the US depensing on network. Source.


In the UK, Ofcom have set the limit at 12.

Dunno if there was a causation link between short attention spans and ads, but I remember reading some time ago there was a proven link between short attention spans and excessive tv generally.

Unless you stream (and who doesn't these days?!)

Wanderer78

AMKC wrote:

Programs and shows?

'Manufacturing consent'!

fergiesfolly

Americans have no issue watching hour long shows on Netflix and the like, so the attention span thing is a bit of a condescending stereotype.
Their homemade tv shows are built around having multiple ad breaks but for a non american, it's painful to watch.

But why would you think that about the audience simply because the TV companies are all commercial profit motivated businesses? The cost of broadcasting across a single country the size of Europe must be astronomical compared to a single country the size of Ireland. Sure someone has to come up with the cameraman's salary every week, don't they? Fart and moan all you want about ads, but the woman who goes in and cleans the jacks is entitled to a paycheck too and it has to come from somewhere.

Kermit.de.frog

*ads op. It's ads.

Argument self defeated in the thread title. You should have given it more attention OP.

JimmyVik

When I lived in the US i couldnt watch tv at all.
Ads used to drive me mad.
I would rather download and watch ad free or stream ad free.

basill

Most people with a brain will record TV and skip the adverts so don't give a damn whether HGTV has an advert every 2mins or not. The folks without much of a brain aren't really even watching tv and only have it as background noise hence why advertising rates have been steadily dropping. For a number of years in the USA there has been a trend of "cord cutters". Its a movement away from cable tv towards the likes of Netflix, Amazon, youtube etc. There is a proliferation of set top boxes and apps that will give you on demand content - much of which is advert free or at least you can fast forward or skip ads altogether based on your subscription.

The same is slowly starting to happen over here. People ditching Sky for Netflix and getting their sports fix through Now TV, Eir, BT etc or buying online subscriptions to watch minority sports which weren't being adequately addressed through mainstream media.

The traditional TV companies will only have themselves to blame when their business model finally falls over and governments around the world pare back all the licensing fees. They have driven their customer base away over the years with increase in advertising being just once piece of the jigsaw.

Strumms

Netflix’s Reed Hastings has come out or HAD to come out and clarify Netflix positions on advertising, there isn’t and won’t be any... apparently they are basically having to shut down interactions with various companies, one who indeed talked about looking at legal proceedings if Netflix wouldn’t engage with them on advertising...

There are over 205 million Netflix subscribers.... so companies WILL try bully and barrack their way onto their services for a big audience but fair play (soo far) to Netflix... pity Spotify didn’t similarly hold out.

Mad_maxx

i lived in NZ many years ago , i remember there being two add breaks during The Simpsons so it appears in this part of the world , we dont have it too bad at all

Wibbs

moonage wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_htZmctK0M

And that was forty years ago. Always liked George out of all of the mop tops.

I remember first going to the US on holiday with the family in the early 80's and watching the TV in the hotel in night(because they had shows a season ahead of RTE and the UK channels back home) and being shocked by the crazy amount of ads. Ad break. Lead into the show. Ad break. Title sequence. Ad break. ten minutes of the show. Ad break. And so on. It was unwatchable for me. Clearly not for Americans who were well used to it by that stage. I don't know about short attention spans. If anything you'd want to have a longer attention span to be able to and want to keep up with the story in between ad breaks. I certainly wasn't up to the task.

Wanderer78

Strumms wrote:

Netflix’s Reed Hastings has come out or HAD to come out and clarify Netflix positions on advertising, there isn’t and won’t be any... apparently they are basically having to shut down interactions with various companies, one who indeed talked about looking at legal proceedings if Netflix wouldn’t engage with them on advertising...

Data mining is very lucrative, I'd say Netflix are fine for income streams other than subscriptions

JimmyVik

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Data mining is very lucrative, I'd say Netflix are fine for income streams other than subscriptions

Always wondered why Netflix dont offer networks the option to stream their channel live on it.
Imagine if you dodnt need saorview to watch RTE and virgin media etc. You could just use your smart tv and have them all at the touch of a button in the one app.
NEtflix could stay the way it is with streaming their own stuff, but carry the ability to watch live tv if you wanted. win/win

Bobblehats

I’ve a short attention span. When the ads come on I’m gone

And I forget to come back.

ancapailldorcha

JimmyVik wrote: »

Always wondered why Netflix dont offer networks the option to stream their channel live on it.
Imagine if you dodnt need saorview to watch RTE and virgin media etc. You could just use your smart tv and have them all at the touch of a button in the one app.
NEtflix could stay the way it is with streaming their own stuff, but carry the ability to watch live tv if you wanted. win/win

They'd demand too much of the take I'd say. I'd love to be able to get RTÉ over here in some form or another. There's millions of Irish here in the UK who'd feel the same. With the advertising, it's mad that it's limited to Ireland.

Strumms

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Data mining is very lucrative, I'd say Netflix are fine for income streams other than subscriptions

Yep, Netflix don’t NEED advertising revenue but by the same token it is millions in revenue globally for very little effort investment...

Could just be three adds before each film starts that you are forced to sit through but fair play....we’ve escaped so far and I doubt it will become a thing...

Spotify on the other hand...unless you have premium is a ball ache now and head wrecker... the advertisements also seems to play at several hundred decibels louder then the music you’ve just been listening to which is very deliberate obviously....so you get maximum ‘exposure’ to whatever business or product they are trying to shill..

Hyperbollix

That must've been a one hour interview that turned into a two hour programme because of ad breaks in the US. It was ridiculous how many times it cut to the title screen, which in the US would mean a break was coming. And those breaks I assume, are 5 to 7 minutes long.

What an awful corporate TV culture.

Wanderer78

JimmyVik wrote: »

Always wondered why Netflix dont offer networks the option to stream their channel live on it.
Imagine if you dodnt need saorview to watch RTE and virgin media etc. You could just use your smart tv and have them all at the touch of a button in the one app.
NEtflix could stay the way it is with streaming their own stuff, but carry the ability to watch live tv if you wanted. win/win

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

They'd demand too much of the take I'd say. I'd love to be able to get RTÉ over here in some form or another. There's millions of Irish here in the UK who'd feel the same. With the advertising, it's mad that it's limited to Ireland.

come on now folks, theres plenty of ways of receiving broadcasts from most countries, almost anywhere in the world, provided you have decent broadband that is, and all at a touch of a button on a smart tv

ancapailldorcha

Wanderer78 wrote: »

come on now folks, theres plenty of ways of receiving broadcasts from most countries, almost anywhere in the world, provided you have decent broadband that is, and all at a touch of a button on a smart tv

I have no interest in wasting my money on the sort of dodgy IPTV nonsense peddled by cowboys.

Wanderer78

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I have no interest in wasting my money on the sort of dodgy IPTV nonsense peddled by cowboys.

thats fair enough, some great services out there though, as good as netflix, if not better

ancapailldorcha

Wanderer78 wrote: »

thats fair enough, some great services out there though, as good as netflix, if not better

Legit services?

Wanderer78

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Legit services?

unsure about legit services, but id like to think there are, does now tv carry such services?

ancapailldorcha

Wanderer78 wrote: »

unsure about legit services, but id like to think there are, does now tv carry such services?

I wouldn't know but after witnessing the mess that is the cowboy stuff, I'm only going to hand over cash for above board services.

Wanderer78

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I wouldn't know but after witnessing the mess that is the cowboy stuff, I'm only going to hand over cash for above board services.

ive been testing cowboy services for the last couple of months, theres certainly a lot of dreadful ones out there, currently testing one now, but i have found a handful of really good ones, just set it up for a friend, theyre really happy with it, well worth it imho

Tell me how

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Data mining is very lucrative, I'd say Netflix are fine for income streams other than subscriptions

I'm curious what data mining avenue Netflix may have open to them?

Is it something they have invested in outside of their streaming platform or are you talking about something which they can do because of and/or with the platform?