The Evolution and Frustration of TV and Online Ads

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network You are tuned

in to Steve Megatron on altered geek Hello and

welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your host Steve

Megatron and joining me in this adventure into

geekdom is TFG1Mike. Somebody change the channel,

please. There are way too many commercials. So

when did you do this? A couple of years ago?

When did you do this whole article thing on the

website? So you have a... A service that imports

articles on the website. Correct. When did you

do this? I set this up probably about five years

ago. Okay. Some of them I look at and I just

like scratch my head. Other ones I look at and

like, I think Steve wrote that. This is all Steve's

fault. And the latest one that has posted to

geekcastradio .com. Go check it out folks. TV

ads really aren't that bad. And it lays it out

where it's like, provide a break. It's less intrusive.

It really isn't. It can be entertaining. And

I thought, Oh, Hey, this would be a good episode

for altered geek to talk about commercials, to

talk about advertising. And I get it. 40 years

ago, we didn't have streaming. We didn't have

the internet. We didn't have any of the stuff

we have now. We didn't have apps. We didn't have

smartphones. We barely had cell phones. And.

I come from a family where my aunt and uncle

at the time, when they were married to each other,

they are no longer married. Well, my aunt has

been deceased for a number of years now, but

my aunt rose and Uncle Patrick. If they're in

the middle of watching a television show and

a commercial comes on, Uncle Patrick would change

the channel and he would never go back to that

show that they were watching. Every single time

a commercial would come on he would find a TV

station that was not running a commercial There

are many ads that I do enjoy However certain

services nowadays like to be like investigation

discovery at times like the free app Ones where

there are ads because it is a free app and I

understand that that's the that's the thing My

biggest problem with ads today is the length

of them Like an ad break which that I understand

like okay, so specifically for me I watch a lot

of stuff on my phone It's just the easiest way

for me to do it I can lay in bed and do it whereas

I used to watch a lot of stuff on my computer

and I still do that too but I watch a lot of

stuff on my phone and I used to use the I'm gonna

use this as as the as the example the investigation

discovery go app I used to We use that all the

time before discovery plus was a thing The ad

blocks are like 90 seconds 120 seconds 170 seconds

And I'm like, okay, I guess I can go to the bathroom

or I guess I can go handle something But if I'm

laying there trying to sleep Is i sleep to have

said this before in the show recently i sleep

to true crime tv it's just the narration tie

at times that it just. It just is apparently

murder is soothing to me it isn't folks it's

wrong it's sick it's whatever but just some of

the shows like i mentioned before a forensic

files and homicide hunter and other things. The

people who narrate them the people who are talking

on them. They're not loud in your face. They're

not caught like anyone that can fall asleep to

the Big Bang Theory. You're in it. You're you're

a nymphomaniac or something because you just

can't. I can't fall asleep to a laugh track kind

of thing. And some of the ads are just really,

really bad. Whereas on the opposite end for me,

because I know you're not that big into football,

but being from Boston, I kind of have to be like.

I absolutely love the the Super Bowl commercials.

Depending on who's in the Super Bowl, I may or

may not pay any attention to the game, but the

Super Bowl commercials are great. Absolutely

love those. But in general, I would rather pay

for ad free television than pay for TV with ads.

Yeah, I mean, there's there's some instances

where I'm kind of on both sides of the fence.

The one side. And I get it, you know, there are

some good ads some bad ads some ones that just

like are you're like why? Some of them are completely

stupid I find that some ads are just blatantly

terrible and There's nothing you can do to get

around it. Mm -hmm Usually those are the ones

that I skipped but now a lot of like for instance

to be they play some really long ones Just can't

stomach It's just it it just makes me bitter

about it I can't listen to it. Yeah, so I'll

get up and walk away or Half the time the stuff

I'm watching on there anyways transformer. So

I'll just pull up my external hard drive that

I've ripped everything to and Access it on there

and just stream it through my my network rather

than deal with that Same token You know if I've

got ads on a couple different services I Don't

really I Don't really worry about it too much

But at the same time like I just don't Yeah,

I mean I just don't I also think watch it. Yeah,

I like you said it depends on what the ad is

Also depends on how bad it is. Well, yeah, and

how short like if it's one of the five seconds

one Yeah, like my kids grown when they have to

watch commercials and I tell them, you know I

used to have to sit and used to have like three

four minutes before your show would come back,

you know two to three minutes and We're lucky

if it it was back by the time you get done going

to the bathroom. Yep Yeah, exactly It's one of

those things where because as I said I Even though

I generally am poor I do have in my budget where

I can pay for a certain number of of streaming

subscriptions and I've been paying for these

for years and Because I pay for the ad -free

versions of them It's so weird going into because

for Karen she needs the DVR. She needs the TV

and that's fine. It's whatever because we're

on to Separate budgets, but that's a whole other

story anyway. I'll watch my ad free TV and then

I'll go in and we'll watch TV or something or

whatever. And yeah, it's DVR. And if you pause

live TV, you can fast forward the commercials.

You couldn't do that 20, 30, 40 years ago. But

if I'm just going in there to sit down or going

in there to check on her or something, and it's

like, Oh my God, like. That's my biggest problem

with television. Some of these networks do not

know how to do volume control. No. Well, it's

intentional. I know. It's to get you to pay attention.

And that's something they teach you in film school.

It's the same reason why when you watch a movie

and it drives me nuts, because when I was in

in college for screenwriting and for moviemaking

and all that. They're like people are not allowed

to breathe unless it's like an intentional part

of the script So you have to edit out any breath?

but then there's also The music has to be louder

and the sound effects have to be louder than

the dialogue and for the life of me I cannot

understand why But yeah, it's just those It's

definitely an intentional thing and that's it

they do that on purpose to make sure that it

sticks in your brain Even if you hate it, you're

going to remember it. Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny.

You know, you look at YouTube, and YouTube generally

most of the time will have skippable ads. Recently

this year, I needed more storage. So I subscribed

to Google won the $20 a year plan for 100 gigs

of storage. So, with that plan, I am currently

in the middle of a three -month trial of YouTube

Premium. First time I've ever on YouTube never

had to worry about ads. I absolutely love it,

but when I go back to regular YouTube and not

paying for, you know, not premium YouTube, you

know, it is what it is, but... Just can't like

hey if I get another free trial sure fine great

if it comes as another Google one Perk at some

point. That's fine But I just you know ever since

I've had this free trial with with YouTube premium

like This is great as much as I want the creators

that I watch to be able to make money on their

YouTube channels Some of those that you want

to talk about some bad ads Right now and then

there's something that shouldn't even pop up

with certain types of content. No and Yeah, I

I I loathe YouTube ones and I figured out ways

around it, but It depends on the device. You're

on to like if I'm on my desktop. I can get around

the ads. Yeah, and and often you can You can

get around it. They don't like how you do that,

but you can But yeah, it's it's definitely not

enjoyable as part of the the viewership Yeah,

I had YouTube premium for a little bit there

more so because I wanted to be able to shut my

screen off and listen to music right And you

can do that with the premium and you can also

play it so that it doesn't actually use the the

video bandwidth Right, but plays just it puts

the album cover and then it it plays the Plays

the music with this the the album cover with

the screen off and that was Don't be wrong. It

was great. I loved it. Mm -hmm, but I also don't

want to pay for it right so it's not something

sustainable for me and I don't want another subscription

service. Right. Yeah. Like I said, if, if this,

you know, if it, if it was a, like if Google

one had a, like a yearly tier that included the

YouTube premium for a year, you know, that would

be great, but it doesn't. And that's fine. And

I have my calendar reminder set for an August.

Yeah. For an August when I have to cancel it.

And that's fine. Like I said, I've been watching

YouTube since 2006, 2007, 2008, somewhere around

there. I think 2007 maybe, I don't remember.

So it's not like I'm not used to YouTube ads.

It's just kind of more enjoyable when you don't

have to deal with ads before the video, in the

middle of the video, and most of the time I don't

even finish the videos sometimes depending on

what the content is. Well it I often if the if

there's too many ads I'll I'll quit watching

What gets me is the videos where it starts you

with an ad like it's supposed to and that's fine

pre -roll ad is fine and then Less than a minute

in another ad starts in the middle of the beginning

of whatever video it like say I'm watching a

youtuber who's reviewing the Samsung Galaxy S22.

Obviously, the S22 isn't the thing yet. They're

on S21 now. But let's just say that that's the

thing. And less than a minute in, and I get another

ad which interrupts this person telling me, hey,

I have this advanced look of this new thing that's

going to be coming out. Oh wait, here's another

30 second to a minute and a half ad that you

have to watch before you can, and it basically

interrupts them. That's like with us on the podcast

and I love Spreaker. Don't get me wrong, but

I will always manually put ads in our podcasts

that they require me to put in and I will find

points where we stop in the conversation. So

it's not interrupting me. Or it's not interrupting

you or it's not interrupting any of my guests

or anything, or I will try my best to put it

at the end of the show kind of thing where it

doesn't interrupt the whole show and all that.

Because the automated ads sometimes they just

don't. Yeah, you think they'd have the AI to

where it works better? Yeah, you'd think. But.

Yeah, I don't know. I'm I'm not like a huge one

against ads because I understand like. The creator

is going to make money and so does the hosting,

but it's it's the way that they do it. Like I

can tolerate easily. Yeah, like a five to 10

second ad. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. I mean, it

still drives my kids nuts when they have to see

them because they're like, listen, I'm like,

yeah, you don't you don't even know what you're

going through. Yeah, you don't know kid Like

you got a good we we used to have to actually

like It's like those old stories that parents

used to tell of you know back in my day. I Had

to walk to school in the dirt for five miles

Yeah, ten miles in the snow barefoot with my

head uphill. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean it's

like Don't, and again, like I said, I get it,

you know, and I, and I, you know, absolutely

want the creators to make the money that they

so deserve from making their content. It's just

like you said, the AI, the, and all of that needs

to improve. And you would think in this day and

age in 2021, that we would have better technology

for ad placements. Cause I'm sorry, if an ad

interrupts me right here as I'm. And then a lot

and then you blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

You know, I'd rather hear the the Charlie Brown

adult voice then So, what do you guys think of

of ads and do you prefer ad free television like

I kind of do and for me ad free television not

necessarily as YouTube like I said, I was already

dealing with ads on YouTube for years. So this

enjoyment of YouTube premium, it's a three month

trial. So I'll be going back to regular. So like,

I'm never not going to not see ads again. But

if I'm paying for Hulu or Netflix or Discovery

Plus or Disney Plus or whatever, I'm going to

get the ad free option because I shouldn't have

to see ads in episodes of Darkwing Duck. Show

that is out over third Wow Darkwing is 30 years

old Holy crap 1991 yeah or 1990 I don't know

anyway Yeah, so what does everybody think of

of ad television and other kind of television

stuff and commercials and what are some of your

favorite commercials kind of thing let us know

in the comments on the website Anything else

you want to bring up, sir? I think so. I think

we've pretty much covered this. I would definitely

be curious to hear what people think about commercials.

Do you find them to be more irrelevant than ever,

or annoying, or do you just not care? Do you

tune them out? Do you pre -record everything

so you don't have to deal with it? Yeah. Yeah.

Just curious. Just curious So I think that about

does it for us here this time on altered geek.

I know it's a shorter episode, but Can only take

the conversation so far when you only do a topic

Plus, you know, there's a cat in your lap. Yes,

there is and I'm painting a figure and the cat

is Don't make the cat You'd really see it I'm

using I'm using bright orange and the cat is

white. Oh, no. Yeah, definitely don't paint the

cat because then you'd have a creamsicle cat.

Oh, my God. Nobody likes the creamsicle. Hey,

creamsicles are awesome. Hey, you said it. So

I just had to. Uh -huh. That would be funny.

So anyways, thank you for joining us here on

Altered Geeks. So until next time, get altered,

get geeky with the Altered Geeks. you