Recently, I have been watching more movies and shows on free services such as Pluto TV, Tubi, Xumo Play, The Roku Channel, etc. All these services have advertisements but none of them have ads to the extent of local TV channels.
Many years ago, the choice of television was limited to 3 network channels and maybe 1 independent channel. Out of those 4 choices, you were very lucky if you could receive all 4 and watch them in a quality that would not drive you crazy. All channels had advertisements and we simply accepted it. I think older Americans who remember those days are more open to watching television with ads. Why pay more for something just to skip the ads? There is a massive amount of content available via TV today and most of it is still free if you are willing to watch some ads.
I watch older shows via streaming services. It was common for older 1 hour shows to have a length of about 56 minutes allowing time for about 4 minutes of commercials. They would also have new episodes almost every week. 1 hour shows today run maybe 40 minutes. After 12 or 13 episodes they call it a season. Whatâs up with that?
While I am ranting, do you watch local news from a local TV station? They run ad after ad after ad for car dealers. In between those ads, they run ads for lawyers. I canât watch local news because of this. How much cheaper would cars and lawyers be if they did not have to pay for all those ads? To the local TV stations, get your people to find some new advertisers.
We watched an old series from the 90s (Mad About You) and there were 23 episodes per season. Just watched another from early 2000s and there were 12-13 episodes per season. Now there are 8 episodes per season!! Seems you pay more and get less for everything these days.
We pay for a streaming service and DVR everything unless it is on PBS. Money well spent to me. The amount and length of commercials has gotten out of hand and I wouldnât watch anything if I had to sit through all those commercials.
I listen to some of the old-time radio shows. Most of them include the original ads from those shows. They can be more entertaining than the radio show itself.
It would be fun to watch TV shows from the 50âs, 60âs and 70âs and have them include the ads that ran with those programs back then.
We started using streaming service less than a year ago, and love it! And yes, we do see ads, but weâre boomers, soâŚ
We watch a local station to keep up with stuff we might need (close-by weather mostly).
Your (JPW050) rant about lawyer and car ads strikes major nerve with me (less ads for them would mean lower costs). The SAME GOES FOR THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY!!! If we didnât have to have insurance to âspeakâ for us, everything across the board would be less expensive.
For local weather, I have installed a weather app on my phone that one of the local TV stations has made available. It is a quick way for me to see the local forecast. It too has ads, mainly for lawyers, but they are easy to ignore.
I agree with the insurance ads. I would also add to the list all the ads for prescription drugs. I have often wondered if patients really go into their doctor and say, âI saw this ad for a drug on TV and I have to have it.â My son tells me that ads for drugs are not permitted in Europe. Is that true?
No. I subscribe to several VOD services (currently Hulu, Max and Peacock), all with ads. The ads donât typically bother me, and I can always mute the sound if they do. I like the savings with the ad tiers. If I watch free services like Pluto, Iâm typically channel surfing. If an ad comes on, I just change channels.
How very true. Not only do we pay for cable local channels, but the networks also receive advertiser money. More and more commercials, many times doubled up with the same time slot and then so quick itâs one moment toilet paper and the next second toothpaste. You would think advertisers would realize there would be a max that viewers would tolerate and stop watching completely.
I would never pay for add free period. The adds while watching Netflix are 15 seconds to about 60 seconds and 2-3 minutes maybe per hour. Slim to none. Other streaming channels such as Parmount show longer adds much like OTA.
I kinda have to laugh about the ads. I was a DJ and actually DID the ads (somebody has to).
The radio station was in Appalachia and people told me that I was a pretty big deal because I didnât sound like I was from the area. Besides, the owners son had been doing most o the commercial spots and he had a lisp. I guess it didnât take much more than me not having one to be asked to do the comercials.
The problem was that the Sales Manager would sell a 30 second spot but then write copy that would take 40 seconds to speak. Nowadays you could do that in a program like Audacity and just speed it up. Back then I had an analog clock timer and kept re-recording it until I could fit all the words in.
I was once paid to record store ads that played over the P.A. system in a general store. I had a hard time not to laugh when one âspecialâ was âand in our Ladies Department, dresses half offâ.
Speaking of âadd freeâ, what about free ads? We had a âswap shopâ where people could call in and sell or ask for items. It would not be unusual for someone to call like this âI have a good laying hen and will trade for either an electric can opener or some nice pillowsâ. So yes, there is even some humor in the ads.
Is there a way to watch old television shows from the 50âs and 60âs along with the original ads that aired with those programs? I think it would be fun to see those old commercials and compare them to what is done today.
