New DVR patent helps advertisers get their pitch across during fast-forwarding

Ok, so television advertisers are slowly resigning themselves to the reality that digital video recorders aren't going away and that more and more viewers are simply fast-forwarding through commercials, so what do they do? Well, they could try and force the DVR makers to eliminate fast-forwarding (which would be a waste of time), they could do like KFC and embed secret messages that you can only see when you watch the ad in slo-mo, they could toy with the idea of pop-up ads like TiVo did, or they could license a freshly patented invention from Colin Davies. His "System for providing visible messages during pvr trick mode playback" lets advertisers get their message across even when you're skipping over their ads, by having marketers embed a series of images in the full frames that get displayed when fast-forwarding. There wouldn't be any sound, and the image wouldn't be quite as dynamic, but they'd still be able to get their point across. How about just making entertaining ads that people might actually want to watch?

[TexRob @ Sep 11th 2006 12:39PM]

Couldn't agree with the last line more. Things like VW's "Fast" adverts, the V-Dub dorky techno/ricer adverts, that is the kind of stuff that I stop fast forwarding and go back to watch. There are a small group of advertisers who are putting out good ads, that I want to see, but the rest continue to put out horrible ads like the Lincoln and GM crap I saw during the UT/OSU game on Saturday (minus the one where the dude gives away his navigator to his childhood coach, it was heart warming, if not entertaining).

[Brian @ Sep 11th 2006 12:45PM]

DRINK COLA
THE BEST JUICE

[spookthehamster @ Sep 11th 2006 12:58PM]

something makes me want some cola juice

[Matt @ Sep 11th 2006 12:58PM]

Mmmm yes, cola is the juice I want!

[burlap @ Sep 11th 2006 1:02PM]

Soda..... the best juice?.... what the hell man?

[Reality Check @ Sep 11th 2006 1:09PM]

I never watch football games live because of the incessant ads. I always record them, then watch an hour or so delayed, so as to skip all the commercials.

[black @ Sep 11th 2006 1:22PM]

That image is obviously a photoshop. The lighting is all off, the perspective is all out of whack, and what's worse is that they left the layer numbers all over the image. FAKE!

[RickDom @ Sep 11th 2006 1:26PM]

I can't start my day without a nice Cola Juice!

[alex @ Sep 11th 2006 1:43PM]

this still isn't going to work. 30second skip is too powerful. i don't really get television advertising. i watch TV because of the show that's on. commercials are an annoyance similar to web ads, which i have trained myself to completely block out. honestly, i didn't know endgadget even had ads for about 3 months until it was mentioned by a poster in a comment.

[Tom @ Sep 11th 2006 1:53PM]

So you start fast forwarding through the ads, and you're presented with a different ad, obviously with a limited showing time... So what when fast forwarding is the norm? Showing only one or two short messages isn’t going to pay the bills, will advertising 'breaks' get longer to make room for more ads?
Will there competition for the fastest-ad-beating-fast-forward?

Or alternatively, can't we just skip the pre-determined time allocated for ads? a skip forward 10minutes button!

And here's another idea, how about a clever device that’ll detect when your program begins again?

All this will undoubtedly lead to more subliminal advertising embedded in the programming.

[Evan @ Sep 11th 2006 2:03PM]

How can they ensure that the correct frames are encoded as key frames? A television broadcast can be re-encoded and converted between analog and digital multiple times before it reaches the consumer.

[Nigel Ballard @ Sep 11th 2006 2:36PM]

If the ads were a little more compelling I wouldn't want to fast forward. This 90 second gem is a prime example of advertising done right: http://youtube.com/watch?v=J6mGfqJAt0s

[J @ Sep 11th 2006 2:45PM]

The problem is not only are the ads really bad but you have to sit through a bunch of them during the course of a show.

So instead of giving up and trying to fight the DVR craze the adverts need to get more creative and cut down on the number during a show. Do I really need to see whats on your fall lineup 10 times during a half hour show. Another solution might be "this show is brought to you by x" If its a show you like and a product you could you and they sponsered your favorite show then the product might gain some loyalty out of you.

[Brian @ Sep 11th 2006 3:05PM]

I support the idea of allowing marketers to specially encode their commercials for PVRs.

Now, I'll know exactly what content to look for and skip. There will be a flurry of open source players designed to detect and skip the commercial entirely.

[ripismoney @ Sep 11th 2006 3:43PM]

Indeed, most commercials that air these days are quite lame, and are better enjoyed at 60x speed so that they don't waste your time. The last line in your post holds true for me, however. I can recall a certain instance when I actually passed a commercial for Burger King (the first time I saw the "I am Man" ad) and then rewound to see what that giant burger I saw for a tenth of a second was all about...

[Battary Acid @ Sep 11th 2006 4:06PM]

Have you ever thought that maybe the people who drew this were just retarded. Thats what im thinking.

[Drew @ Sep 11th 2006 4:56PM]

I can't wait to see how HEAD ON creates an even stupider ad thanks to this technology.

[thesawzall @ Sep 11th 2006 4:58PM]

How about making adds that are actually relevant to me and how about not making me watch it more than once.

Until then skip...skip...skip...skip...opps, backup.

[DaveHimself @ Sep 11th 2006 9:13PM]

I invented this over a year ago. And I talked about it in this blog post.

http://greedoneverfired.blogspot.com/2005/07/2-ways-to-beat-tivo.html

No worries for me. I am on ReplayTV. The Linux of DVRs :).

[ciscokidinsf @ Sep 12th 2006 11:28AM]

Whoa! We are there! The future is now! Does anyone remember 'Blipverts' from the Max Headroom TV Series? Blipverts were commercials that ran so fast they would make your head explode. We ase so '20 minutes into the future' now. Next, they'll implant something in our eyes to watch the damn things.

[Scott @ Sep 12th 2006 10:29PM]

Agreed, make good ads. Just like last night during Sunday night football. I was at a friends house and we were FF through the commercials. The Coors ads with the fake interviews with coaches was getting skipped and I asked by buddy if he'd seen them. He hadn't, we RW and watched them from there on out. Make good adds and we'll watch them.