Why We Need Advertising Explained
Poking around for new videos to watch, I stumbled across WeDigTV.com, which features interactive game shows like The Price Is Right. They use Flash layovers to create an interactive experience, allowing users to play along.
What I found most interesting on the site, though, was their simple explanation of why they need to serve ads. This has been an argument that I’m tired of having. Greedy consumers want more and more content for free, without any understanding of the costs associated with producing and distributing that content. The good folks at WeDigTV.com ’splained it real good:
Why We Are Running Advertisements.
Our adventures within the world of TV rights and i-show development have taught us one important lesson. That rights, celebrities and development don’t come for free!
If we want to build the most popular broadband entertainment site on the planet we will need to give the small guy a big voice. Essentially this means hugging the big guys from time to time. We hope you understand.
Put simply, we are running advertisements so as to ensure the constant stream of famous i-show formats for you to enjoy.
More hugs = more i-shows = more fun
Hopefully people will start to understand how it is that all this great content finds its way onto any of our screens, and might add a little into the value exchange equation before it becomes financially impossible to be a content producer (see: Music Industry).