In the past few days I have heard several different people talk about how they have gotten used to watching television shows without the commercials. Between buying boxed sets on DVD and the DVR/TiVO revolution, more and more people are skipping the commercials in favor of just watching the shows.
What do you suppose this trend will mean for the future of ad-driven programming? No doubt the producers of these shows are getting a cut from the dish/cable companies that sell the dvr machinery, and they are making good money off the dvd market, so what happens to advertisers?
Bandits No More 
I just wanted to say “hello”…My husband, Don, and I were at Asbury in the late 80’s and remember you from there. I was blogsurfing today and happened upon this blog. Blessings.
Hmmm. What will the advertisers do? How about building their ads into the scripts?
JOHN: I’m so sorry for your loss, Becky. Sit down. Let me get you a cup of coffee.
BECKY: Thanks, John. And I’d love some coffee, especially if it’s Folgers Mountain Grown. I prefer it over other brands for its rich, robust flabor. Oh, what am I going to do without my husband, John? I miss him so already!
JOHN: It’s hard, but you’ll find the strength to go on. Maybe you should talk to your doctor about Lexapro, a new drug approved for treating depression with fewer side effects than other anti-depressants. Of course, if you are pregnant or may become pregnant you should tell your doctor before taking Lexapro.
BECKY: Oh, John, that’s the problem! I’m pregnant! And it’s not my dead husband’s baby. It’s . . . it’s yours, John!
JOHN: Have you heard of this amazing new product called Paternity Proof? It’s a home DNA test recently approved by the FDA for proving — or disproving — paternity claims! It’s quick and easy to use! Let’s go out and buy one today!
We just switched from Dish to DirecTV. One feature I miss is the 30 second fast forward feature. It seems to be missing from my DirecTV PVR. I can fast forward, but it is hard to time. On Dish, you could skip forward 30 sec at a time, then rev 15 sec (I think) making it pretty easy to fly through commercials.
Electronic product placement is already here. Brand items can be placed into a scene either in post-production or even “on demand” as a method of advertining in the program.
Of course, the real solution is to be creative enough to make the ads worth watching in and of themselves. Think Super Bowl