Commercials On The Computer

The fact the commercials feature a countdown clock is tacit acknowledgment this isn’t the optimum way.

While we were away Helaine recorded Modern Family. As it turned out one episode aired while there was breaking news. The ‘dumb’ DVR recorded at the appointed time and shut down before the show was over. Ugh!

“I can find it on the Internet,” Helaine said. And she did.

The Internet stream features commercials. I understand that. You’ve got to pay for the show somehow. There are actually fewer commercials on the Internet version than the air version. They’re just more invasive!

I’m not sure why, but there’s a difference between interrupting a broadcast where the TV is halfway across the room and interrupting the more personal webcast where the commercials are in your lap and where you feel trapped by them! Whatever it is 30, 60 or 70 seconds on the laptop was a lot worse than 2:30 on the TV.

The commercials are flanked by a countdown clock. Isn’t that tacit acknowledgment they know we’re upset?

On top of that any time I tried to move the timeline (we were after all trying to pick up a show we started watching on the DVR) it triggered more commercials!

I enjoyed the show. I hated the experience.

7 thoughts on “Commercials On The Computer”

  1. Did you watch from the ABC website? Before I lost my DSL internet connection, I used to “watch TV” online all the time. I preferred the commercials online than the 100 commercial breaks on TV. I know that people watch TV shows on Hulu, but I don’t know if those have the commercials or not.

  2. We’ve watched Desperate Housewives and Dancing with the Stars online in the past. The website even recognizes the IP address as it shows the channel 8 logo on the web page.

  3. Ugh! I hate the commercials more on the PC than TV. But then maybe it’s because everything I watch IS DVR’d and I never have to sit through commercials. We had to watch about a 1/2 hour of Castle on the PC (for some reason ABC’s HD channel is horrrrrible on Comcast and always breaks up) and everytime I skipped forward I had to watch 2 minutes of commercials only to discover I hadn’t skipped far enough. GRRRR.
    Same thing happened to me and my Modern Family but I haven’t taken the time to watch it yet (and another Castle episode!).

  4. Believe it or not, this is actually a pretty big problem in the advertising industry. Many viewers will simply flip to another tab on their web browser during a commercial, denying the advertiser the eyeballs they would get even if people were muting or skipping through it on a DVR.

  5. I watch some shows on Hulu and their commercials are the worst, especially one with the Mayhem guy from Allstate. It seems like they are trying to pay us back with more commercials if we dare try to bypass the original commercial showed.

  6. Geoff

    Surely I respect your wishes, still like many others have noted the new guy does NOT come close to your on air presence. I for one have no confidence in his forecasts. Like many others have noted, I too have moved to another evening TV news channel.

    Good luck, ideally at a CT station.

    -dave

    PS I did note that your bio picture is the first weatherman shown on the WTNH web page. The new guy apparently does not even merit a simple picture.

  7. Geoff – Thank you for being such a gentleman and the professional we always knew you were! God speed and if you end up in the area, we’ll watch for sure!

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