Yesterdays post was getting so long I decided to break it up.
Greg Loftis, over at Forrester sent me several reports that James McQuivey has done around media and advertising. (If your company uses Forrester’s services you can read the full reports. If not you’ll be taken to the excerpts.)
- Online Video Syndicator Hulu.com Overperforms At Beta Launch
- Web Video Recording Arrives In Force
- Paid Video Downloads Give Way To Ad Models
The bottom line is that I’m an early adopter, I’ll pay extra to not watch commercials. According to Forrester, the bulk of the market is willing to put up with advertising in order to get their media for free. In fact, just like many online news companies are taking down their subscription based business models in favor of ad supported models, the Forrester reports claim that ad supported videos are more profitable than premium paid content. From “Paid Video Downloads Give Way to Ad Models”:
“The paid download market, however, is ultimately a dead end. To attract mainstream viewers, media strategy executives must develop new business models and delivery mechanisms to make video downloading ad-supported and geek free.”
My biggest argument here is that with online print I can still read the article without having to stop for the ad. Yes they may redirect me to an ad before I view the content but that is very different than taking away the content while I’m consuming it.
With online video I am far less annoyed by pre-roll ads than I am by interruptive commercial. I also believe that if advertisers don’t learn how to make their advertising more relevant they will loose viewers. I wouldn’t mind advertising if it were relevant to me. Even entertaining advertising gets old after the third or fourth viewing.
Are early adopters a sign of things to come? Sure right now most people might be willing to save a buck or two but how much is your time worth?
What about you? Are you willing to put up with ads to save a few bucks or would you rather pay a premium for advertising free content?
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