Bill James' blog

This thinkpiece is prompted by a great article in The Guardian the gist of this feature is that we are still watching lots of TV and we are actually still watching lots of adverts. I found this hard to believe but BARB’s figures show that we’re watching some 11 minutes more commercial TV a day than 15 years ago. More commercial telly, more ads; last year we watched an average 2.25 billion ads a day, an all-time high.

Now I had to do a double-take because I watch TV far more selectively nowadays and in fact because I usually watch via Sky+ and I timeshift my TV viewing this means I hardly watch any TV ads at all. The potential impact of such technology does get a mention in the article but is rather dismissed which I do find a bit dangerous, and only defensible if the stats back it up – which BARBs figures appear to do. So I then went down to the comments posted, which included a lot similar to mine about fast forwarding through recorded ads…

I’ll now be looking for more evidence both sides of this argument!

And I’ve discovered a new source of research, commentary and opinion to help me on my way. One of the coolest resources I’ve found recently to contribute in this debate is NewTV – check it out and learn from the debate about the many and rich ways video is being created, delivered and viewed.

What this all suggests is that with so much of the talk throughout the broadcast and internet industry focused on the continuing big rise in video viewing online. especially with stuff like Hulu and Kangaroo continuing to get column inches and blog attention to keep the focus high. I think the real debate should be about the fact that we are in a phase of trying to get an industry to rethink TV.

The big challenge in all this of course is that advertising is needed to fund a redefined industry, and as the industry isn’t actually redefined yet the jury is still out on how advertising should work. So my eyes are open and my ears are alert for the evidence of a new industry funded by new advertising!