When Advertising Becomes Intrusive… Well Even More Than Usual…
Think about this for a minute. You have had a long day out working you behind off and have been stuck in peak hour traffic, or have been standing on a crowded train with someone’s armpit in your face. You then arrive at home to have your dinner, clean-up and get ready for a nice quiet evening of watching your favourite programs on television.
Then you see this…
Welcome to the latest concept to hit free to air television in Australia, the in program promo watermark. A now common occurrence on American television with this example from NBC which probably is far worse than what we are seeing here as it is not as transparent, but could it become common place here?
The networks already bombarded us with advertisements for other programs during the program already being viewed with a quick flash of a bar at the bottom of the screen, but the above watermarking appears to be the next step. You can argue that it is just a matter of getting used to it as was the case when Australian television started using watermarks, starting with the Seven Network roughly back in 1999. Below it can be seen how much space it takes up on screen…
For me, it is very distracting, but that’s the whole point of this exercise I suppose so that it is noticeable, but at the same time a small part of me is thinking it is a good idea as it gets into people’s minds about the new shows coming up. What do you think? Total disgrace… Distracting beyond belief… Doesn’t bother you… or you haven’t even noticed until it was pointed out just now…
Technorati tags: Channel Nine, Nine Network, Watermark
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Pete | Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
1 vote for “bothers me”. a lot.
watermarks that keep getting bigger, animations, squishing credits to the side to show a promo… etc etc … drives me crazy
my theory is the only way they keep doing this is that its actually quite difficult to get feedback to the right person. if there was a big red FEEDBACK button on every australian TV i think they’d feel some heat. without it, they just keep take-take-taking
like the site. hope the networks are reading!
Jeff | Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
Total disgrace - Channel 9 should be ashamed of themselves.
Chris | Jan 30, 2008 | Reply
The important difference is that on American TV (and even NZ widescreen tv for that matter) this advertising is in the 16×9 safe area when it’s on digital whereas Australian networks have putting it in the 12×9 (or 4:3) safe area (ie the middle of the screen instead of off to the side) where it is even more intrusive. I have noticed ten HD and 7 HD put their logos in the 16×9 safe area from time to time so maybe it’s just a matter of time before they get their act together.
Blake | Feb 3, 2008 | Reply
The reason they put it in the 4:3 safe area is because many people (even with digital) only have 4:3 TV’s, meaning, if it was in the 16:9 safe area, it would be cut off. The reason the watermark is in the 16:9 safe area on HD channels is because 99% of people watching the HD channels have 16:9 TV’s, so they will all be able to see it.
Mark33 | Feb 3, 2008 | Reply
Easily one of the worst and most distracting ad placements in recent TV memory, along with banner ads along the bottom, squashed credits (complete with voiceovers). The new age of digital TV is off to a bad bad start.