Update: Julia’s comment below made me to decide to go look at the actual press release from TiVo. The New York Times indeed used some curious word choices both. in its headline, and in the story with regard to “hit” and “most popular”. The actual press release as titled by TiVo was Emmy Gold Not Necessarily a Silver Bullet for Advertisers, According to TiVo
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The New York Times has a story up on how people with TiVos mostly don’t watch commercials and even more skip commercials in hit dramas. But I had to smile at the show they used in the graphic, especially since the story was titled “Hit TV Shows Have Most-Skipped Ads“:
The most popular television programs had the least-watched commercials, TiVo reported last week. The company said that nearly all of the television shows that won 2009 Emmys showed higher levels of ad-skipping than the averages for their respective genres. The sole exception was “30 Rock,” 64 percent of whose audience skipped the commercials, as opposed to 66 percent for all sitcoms generally.
You are of course pointing out Mad Men is not very high rated at all. In fact it’s quite low rated even for a cable show. How clever you are. Love how you bring the snark.
Lol, DVR and TIVO viewers skipping commercials, I’m shocked. What’s next a study that proves ice is frozen water. People have been skipping commercials on recorded shows since the first VCR’s were invented.
AC no snark at all. I really found it amusing. I’m a big fan of Mad Men, and it’s certainly a critical hit. But I found it amusing not just because it was used in the graphic and it’s not a “hit” show in terms of viewers, but also because it’s a show that has advertising as its backdrop and few (at least DVR viewers) are watching the advertising. My guess is that it was used in the graphic because it had the highest % of commercial skip.
True. True. And to be honest I really do like snark. I am very snarky.
Their definition of a hit seems to be odd. I mean, they say that Emmy winners are the ones with higher than average skipping, and call them hits.
Well why would anyone watch the ads when they could just skip through them?
I’m shocked.
That the numbers aren’t higher.
Julia, the definition of “most popular” (in the text) seemed odd too. So I went to look at the actual TiVo press release (should’ve done that to begin with!) and it’s not odd — it’s just wrong. Here’s the actual headline of the TiVo release (now linked to in the post):
EMMY GOLD NOT NECESSARILY A SILVER BULLET FOR ADVERTISERS, ACCORDING TO TIVO
TiVo Viewers Avoid Commercials at Highest Levels During Most Primetime Emmy® Award Winning Programs
Yeah I was expecting it to be like 90% of TiVoers don’t watch commercials.
I guess people are more patient for commercial breaks if it’s a half-hour show?
Mad Men is the type of show that is designed without commercial breaks in mind. Do you notice how any scene before a commercial break just ends? It doesn’t build to anything, it just ends, the commercial comes on and we’re onto another scene. It’s designed differently. Personally, I dislike where AMC chooses to place the commercial breaks, perhaps that’s the real problem.
Mad Men has product placements. Last week it featured Ritz Crackers and Budweiser in very obvious placement shots.
Which is not to refute anyone’s point, just something worth noting.
I never watch shows lives, and I always fast forward the commercials, I think these numbers are off. I’m thinking more like 95% or more.
I bet you that the wealthier the audience of a show, the more they skip commercials. The wealthiest people in the U.S. probably feel they don’t have time to waste with commercials, since they are so used to being fast-paced and not wasting a moment in their hopes of being efficient in business. I bet you that the first season of The Apprentice probably had a very high percentage of skipped commercials as well.
Read the following for more “SHOCKER”.
SHOCKER: Men prefer beer over wine.
SHOCKER: Women feel men don’t emote enough.
SHOCKER: Teenagers rebel against their parents.
SHOCKER: Kids like candy.
SHOCKER: Politicians lie.
I’m surprised the numbers aren’t higher!!
Those who wonder why DVR numbers have little weight when making business decisions, refer to this article.
Advertisers won’t pay for people who are skipping their ads. Networks won’t renew shows that don’t generate enough revenue.