Free Online Video! Quitcher Bitchin’
Have you been to the movies lately? Jeeeeeeeeez. Ridiculous.
As I was sitting there for the 20 minutes of commercials and previews before the movie started, I found myself getting worked up a bit. Why? Because of all of the bitching and moaning that I was hearing from the people around me. By the time the 8th commercial played - all before the previews - there was a healthy (or not so healthy) mix of people laughing and people who were really, really pissed off.
As I mentioned ahead of the weekend, I was going to see The Dark Night. Over hyped. Too long. Overall, though, not too bad.
But as I was sitting there, watching ad after ad play, I starting thinking about online advertising, targeting, free content, and the great value exchange that we’re offered online.
The ads kicked off with a Fandango ad, which makes sense. Buy your tickets online. I’m OK with that one. Then came the Wal-Mart ad featuring their Hannah Montana line of clothes. Now, my niece loves her Hannah Montana t-shirts, but you wont find her watching the darkest Batman movie yet. (Yes, I know their parents are.) Then came a really long Jeep SUV ad (I think it was for Jeep, but I started texting, so I’m not 100% sure). I’m in NYC. I take the subway. Nice targeting. Then the ad for Bertoli pasta sauce. Oy.
Then came a long Coke drive thru ad, which makes sense because I could actually buy a Coke at the concession stand. Then a long Vitamin Water ad, and then finally an ad for AT&T with Martin Scorsese, which again, was appropriate for the movies.
But eight ads? Way too many. WAAAAAY too many. Why is this even acceptable? Why do I need to defend an ad online ad model that offers free content and candy that costs $1.50 and not $4.50?
My point? If you are going to shell out $11 per movie ticket, should you have to sit through 10 minutes of advertising? I was suddenly reminded - very directly - about just how sweet a deal we’ve got right now with online video.
How many ads are in front of my streamed movies from Netflix? One. For Netflix. And its really a placeholder while the content buffers. How many ads during an online hour of Lost? Three. How many on TV? At least 4 ads per break.
I’m not rushing back to the movie theater any time soon, thats for sure. I’m off the movie release schedule and on the DVD release schedule, and not looking back.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
A couple things, there were probably more previews before the Dark Night than I’ve seen for any other movie, literally more than 20 minutes worth, but I was fine with it, I like watching movie trailers, also, I got there just in time - ads before trailers are like pre-roll you can avoid, or you can get there early for good seating and watch them in exchange, you know the showtime so what do you really care?
Also, you can’t deny the experience of watching a movie in a big screen with a good sound system, I’m not sure of how much money Warner Bros will make off of ticket sales vs DVD, merchandising etc, but I’ll happily pay eleven bucks rather than watch the Dark Knight on my computer. I actually began to the other day and stopped after five minutes into it because it’s not worth it, even if it had been DVD quality which it wasn’t I doubt I would have enjoyed it as much.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:20 am
I used to say there were only two places users happily accept advertising: the cinema, where trailers for other movies are a fun part of the night out; and fashion magazines, where women buy the September Vogue as much for the 500 pages of ads as for the 100 pages of content. Well, the cinemas have screwed that all up by overloading us with irrelevant TV ads.
I wrote some research last year on the three most important things online video sites can do to increase user acceptance of pre-roll ads: limit length (15 seconds max), limit frequency (one ad for every 5-7 minutes of video content), and ensure advertiser/creative rotation (so users don’t see the same ad over and over and over). Once enough sites and networks have enough inventory, I’ll add targeting to that list — but right now meaningful targeting is difficult for most sites and networks.
Cinemas (and TV networks too) would be wise to keep these same lessons in mind.
August 5th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I actually will deny the experience of going to the theater as being superior. Yes the screen is bigger, but thats where the real benefit stop. Maybe I’m spoiled with a nice surround system.
But for $20, you can own the DVD. And with that comes the ability to rewind (”What did he just say?, Did you see that?”), take that bio-break and not worry about missing anything, and get the whole thing in a pristine digital experience. After two weeks of wear and tear on a film, you can start to see the break down. Unless you go to a fully DLP theater, it can’t be avoided unless you feel like fighting the crowds.
And the crowds are problem #1. I want to sit in the “sweet spot” but I don’t want random people sitting next to me, talking, fidgeting in their seat, and making me move when they need to go to the bathroom.
Overall, I think the “going to the movies” experience has lost quite a bit of its appeal as home theater quality has dramatically improved and lowered in cost.