Noticed the study released by Nielsen over the last day, as reported by the New York Times, but had not commented on it because I did not think there was anything to say about it - but then I thought about it again, and there is a couple of points not covered by the Nielsen Survey. According to the Times:
"….And even when people watch recorded shows later, many are not fast-forwarding through the ads. On average, Nielsen found, DVR owners watch 40 percent of commercials that they could skip over — perhaps because they like ads, don’t mind them or simply can’t be bothered. "
My wife tunes out commercials but I don't - and some are actually entertaining, like the series with APPLE "MAC vs. PC" - I don't mind watching those commercials at all.
Could it be that Commercials can become programs of their own if they're "engaging" enough? Yes, I do think so and the metrics for this can be partly derived from YouTube and Google Video as well as other Online Video sites.
I think people are more interested in the commercial being good to watch - and I suppose we might end up, someday, having a rating system for commercials derived by visitor responses (number of digital replays) which will help determine how much an advertiser will pay (and a cable channle or network make) for showing commercials.
Again, Metrics can answer this question, provided there's enough data and the right questions are being asked (and you have the right platform). Perhaps the answer to future advertising revenue model is to rate commercials and ads based on how entertaining they are. Just a thought.
