Viewers bemoan amount of ads on catch up TV services but like fact they are free, finds study
Commercial TV networks’ catch up TV services are forcing viewers to watch the same ads too often, a new survey has found.
While the fact the services are free was one of the most liked features of the platforms the statements “there are too many ads” and “they play the same ads all the time” were the two most disliked features about them, according to the Edentify IPTV in Australia survey.
9Jumpin was the worst offender according to 42 per cent of respondents, with 38 per cent complaining about TenPlay and 36 per cent about Plus7.
However, those numbers were all down from 2014.
Edentify managing director Dan Banyard told Mumbrella: “Anyone who has used those services knows the placement of those ads is the issue – the number of ads and the repeat of those same ads is having a detrimental impact on the content across the commercial catch up services. “The channels have to work harder with the way they target and avoiding the repeat of things over and over again. It is pretty shocking.”
Asked if there was an irony in that consumers also listed the fact the platforms were free among their chief likes Banyard said: “It is ironic. Consumers are ultimately smart enough to know there is a commercial reality to things but there is repetition and placement.
“Online has the ability to serve the right targeted ads – far more than broadcast – but perhaps they should do something crazy like less ads.”
Banyard cited the success of US streaming service Hulu which has moved to interactive ads, giving viewers the choice on which they see, or allowing them to pay to see less advertising.
“We have also asked respondents who admit to using Hulu via VPN and advertising does not come up nearly as much,” he said.
The Edentify research also backed other studies which had shown a decrease in platforms known for piracy – such as peer to peer sharing and file sharing – as the level of subscription video on demand (SVOD) increased.
“The Netflix phenomena is clearly having an impact,” said Banyard. “2015 is the year where everyone underestimated the power of the brand and so when it launched this year it had a power beyond expectations.
“We have definitely seen a decrease in the use of some of these sites. As services come on board where people can access content without resorting to illegal methods it will continue to change the number of people who are sharing things.
“But I would add that when it comes to piracy/illegality we are making some assumptions eg. with peer to peer sharing it or family members it may be copyrighted material, it may not.”
Edentify’s IPTV in Australia survey is a quarterly study by the independent research company of more than 600 respondents. To date it has received more than 4,800 responses over 2014 and 2015.
Nic Christensen
I can’t get Tenplay to work on the Apple TV. It might be because I have a VPN but it hasn’t started once.
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But it’s all programmatic, isn’t it? Or is this another example of an over-hyped reality for a far-off future?
It’s almost like the first consideration was advertising revenue rather than viewer experience.
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Never once complained about the ads on iView.
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I know for sure that Seven’s is terrible — it will cut for ads at bizarre moments, play the same ad multiple times. Other times, it will go to an ad, play nothing, then return. It’s a freaking mess. Only ABC iView works well out of all the catch up apps on my Smart TV.
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When will the Networks learn that LESS IS MORE???
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When buyers are prepared to pay a premium for less clutter
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I use SBS on demand – and cop the same 30 sec ad repeatedly while watching 3 min long sport clips. I have learned to mute, look at the ceiling and meditate for the exactly right amount of time.
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Fair point seller. The ad industry needs to sort that out – maybe media agencies and the marketers first. But to improve viewer experience, less ad clutter means higher ad costs. Can’t see that happening any time soon. Marketers can only blame themselves if this shift to ad-free SVOD and the rest keeps up.
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It is indeed a curious thing that we complain about ads, yet STV never got much past 30% household penetration. Australians have traditionally been happy to trade off advertising against free content. A new ‘iTunes generation’ may have a different attitude, but for the moment ad funded programming is still going strong. Where the model is being challenged is that some agencies are trying the saturation technique where it is not appropriate. For big branding exercises (e.g. Coke, Maccas, etc) repetition doesn’t seem to annoy viewers as much as is the case with more targeted ads. It may that with some products and on some vehicles less is more. Of course, it might also be that too many of the most annoying ads are simply crap to begin with.
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A simple case of maximise what’s selling fast, bring in the revenue whatever ad will do and fix the backlash later. Repetitive ads are a challenge and it comes down to the publishers ability to manage a number of campaigns across a limited number of slots therefore there is repetition. Other pressures in the market like programmatic direct deals impact these, the math is simple but publishers need to overcome this – it can be done. The drop-off rates for episodes are alarming with most people averaging around 8 ads when there are a possible 30 for a full episode. There is a balance and work needs to be done to find this, however not confident this will happen until the cash signs are removed from the eyes.
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Thank god for You Tube. [mute option]
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Thank god for You Tube. [with adblocks]
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@Pepsi Monster (comment 2) “It’s almost like the first consideration was advertising revenue rather than viewer experience.”
That is exactly how the old guard always did and do operate. This is why they are getting disrupted in this digital age.
People will pay for quality (they are doing so). Was is ‘quality’ about the commercial networks? Do they lack a true publishing / broadcasting brain? A team of commercially savvy yet understand user engagement? Whoever nails that might still be standing in 10 years time. ‘Cutting deals’ for the sake of maintaining revenue first, I believe will not cut it.
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Combine the crashing of the app with the repetition of ads and this can be a frustrating experience… Surely adtech allows for smarter scheduling of ads across a program. As a viewer you know the commercial reality, but the whole experience is so frustrating and seem lazy in execution. Don’t mind watching ads, but seeing the same ad on repeat doesn’t seem necessary. As an advertiser, I’d be wanting better quality from ad impressions too,
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“The Netflix phenomena is clearly having an impact,” said Banyard. “2015 is the year where everyone underestimated the power of the brand and so when it launched this year it had a power beyond expectations.”
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I don’t think the Netflix popularity is because of the “power of the brand” I think it’s success is because it was progressive and gives a very positive user experience. (low price, it’s completely ad free, easy to use interface and large amount of content.)
Australian companies should have moved first and beat Netflix at their own game before they started here, but instead we have a media industry that is stuck in it’s ways and greedy.
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When will someone do a survey to find out how many people walk out of the room, get some food or check their computer when ads breaks are on? I can honestly say I don’t recall watching an ad in it’s entire in the past 12 months.
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On TenPlay, It just took me an hour to watch the last 15 minutes of an episode of McGyver I missed due to the adds, and the screen freezing…
Think I’ll just stop watching tv altogether, and just buy the DVD’s of the whole series when they’re released.
If more people start doing that, all the advertising in the world won’t save them!
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What’s with all the ads on templates so over it try to watch a show n just get bombarded with ads every couple of minutes it’s worse than live tv about to delete it had a gut full of it just pathetic
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