People keep complaining about ads. It’s a never-ending story. Or perhaps a story of the past with all the new gadgets that help you zip-zap the ads out of the program. Help you escape the annoying interruptions of the shows you love (or at least tolerate).
It turns out that most consumers often don’t really know what’s good for them. New research shows that ads actually make your watching experience more enjoyable even when they themselves are not enjoyable. How?
It’s the nature of human perception. People adapt quickly in their reception of events taking place around them. It doesn’t take long for the “New” to become boring.
Tests show that an advertising interruption here and there actually makes your show more enjoyable. Researchers had people watching the same show. It turns out that those watching the version of the show with ads experienced it as more enjoyable than those watching it without advertising interruptions.
Yes, it’s annoying to be interrupted when watching TV. But it also prevents you from getting fed up with the show too quickly.
In between taking sips of wine, wine connoisseurs like to take sips of water. It cleanses the pallet and helps you taste each sip of wine better. Could ads be the water of the entertainment business? The research soon to be published in JCR seems so suggest so.
Here’s an afterthought. My wife often complains, how men (that would be me) tend to switch channels all the time and don’t really know how to watch/enjoy a show properly. I finally have scientific proof that my schizophrenic viewing patterns actually make sense. Sort of.
[...] is not a moral outburst. It’s just an observation. I was writing about research on ad breaks a few weeks ago. Leno got me questioning the division between ad and TV show. The dilemma is not [...]
By: No laughing business « Domen Bajde on February 9, 2009
at 3:36 pm
I also complain when my husband switches between channels or reads the text news when there’s a break for ads…This as I like to watch ads and then of course that I’m afraid that we will miss some important lines in the program we’re watching. And I think there’s a difference in which context they insert ads..When watching a film I want to be part of the story and escape from reality and not have anything to do with any commercial dialogue…When watching tv-series ads are okay especially if the episode is sad or emotionally demanding. You have time to relax and fetch handkerchiefs. Usually the characters of tv-series are your acquaintances so it’s more difficult to deal with bad things happening to them
…So yes, ads+tv-series is just okay.
By: Maria on January 17, 2009
at 1:39 pm
Sure. But these researchers are saying that you will find them better when they interrupt your viewing with ads. Ironic, right?
In all honesty it’s the interruption effect that does the trick. It doesn’t have to be an ad…
By: Domen Bajde on January 16, 2009
at 3:06 pm
I only watch those TV shows that are good on their own.
By: Andrej on January 16, 2009
at 2:58 pm