Wednesday, January 11, 2006

The television will not be revolutionized

Someone invents a way to actually measure TV ad viewing and we're supposed to believe that agencies -- those "free-spending Madison Avenue idea factories" -- now face the End Times.

Or not.

Ad ratings could alter some client ad selection but it may cause more confusion for TV programming: "ad ratings could upset the decades-old system of pricing ad time based on how many viewers are watching a show and instead force networks to price time based on how many watch the commercials....networks could be charging advertisers who put up poorly rated ads higher prices for airtime than those with better ads, on the premise that bad ads spur viewers to surf to a competing channel."

Did you follow that logic? If no one watches your ad, you'll be charged more for it. Let's see how networks make that work. Or this: could a top show get axed because none of its sponsors can hold the audience through a commercial break? And if the audience does surf, is it the ads or the demo that's to blame? After all, the average Larry King viewer probably doesn't work the remote quite the same way as a Mountian Dew-fueled ADD teen.

Look, all this makes my head hurt. I just can't worry about it right now. Besides, I gotta get out there and free-spend while I still can.

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