Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with TV and advertising

Do you need to get licensing agreements for these things?

Submiqent — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:50:30 -0800

Image licensing and advertising on the Colbert Report Does Comedy Central or the Stephen Colbert show have to get licenses of every image he uses on the show? For instance in one segment, he says "back then, most people just prayed for more flavourful tar in their Chesterfields" accompanied with the relevant picture of a (presumably) copyrighted Chesterfields pack.

Also there's many prop food products he shows off which seems very clearly to be advertising, but due to the nature of his show, he may only react positively to the product and jokingly denounce it. I had the impression advertising companies were too uptight about negative comments to be into this kind of advertising?

Though he does a lot more obvious advertising with Doritos and the like, it's the small stuff that makes me wonder how they manage it.

Question regarding the way TV commercials are aired on local cable systems

adamgreenfield — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:31:49 -0800

Question regarding the way TV commercials are aired on local cable systems. Every so often we watch Cartoon Network or Comedy Central - it's just about the only TV we watch. I can't help but notice that the commercials running are lo-fi, locally-produced ones for NYC-area enterprises, and that frequently, when they end, there's an interval of second or two in which the last bit of the national commercial running on the network is clearly visible.

Aren't the national advertisers paying for the privilege of reaching our household? Aren't they rather prevented from doing so by the local spots playing in the slot for which they've presumably ponied up? How on earth does our local cable provider, RCN - who I loathe for good and sufficient reasons, though not ones germane to the question at hand - justify this practice? (Bear in mind, I have absolutely no sympathy for advertisers, or interest in seeing the crap they're peddling. I just find this confounding as a business practice.)

Maybe one of you-all with industry experience can square me away here?

How much do TV shows really cost?

nielm — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 03:20:01 -0800

Imagine a world with no TV advertising, and no sponsorship with TV shows being view on demand and funded by pay-per-view by the viewer. How much would (or should) a TV show actually cost? Even though a lot of TV is paid for by directly by the viewer via subscription channels, a lot of the cost is offset by sponsorship and advertising...

With the increased use of DVRs (also triggered by over-saturation of TV advertising) more and more people will be skipping adverts, until the big corporations realise that they are no longer cost-effective. At this point, channels and programme makers will have to look for other sources of income.

So what if there was no advertising at all, and everything would be PPV. How much would your TV shows cost?

A couple of current data points are:

The cost of a show on iTunes: $1.99
The cost of a show on a DVD: ~$3

but neither of these are fair comparisons as you can watch the show as many times as you like: I only want to see it once! I also believe that these are priced at a value the market will accept, rather than something more approximating the cost.

I was wondering if anyone has an idea of the total cost/viewer of the advertising slots around a popular program?

This question is also prompted by me wanting to watch the new Battlestar Galactica. The Belgian networks have not yet licenced it, and seem to have no intention of doing so. My only ways to get hold of it are therefore:

Buying DVDs from the UK which seem way to expensive (UKP50 or $100 for 20 episodes = $5/ep), for watching each episode once

*cough* file sharing networks, which I don't like the idea of: I personally feel that if I like something, the creators should be rewarded for their work

So I can either pay what I feel is 'too much' or 'too little' ($0), and I was wondering what would be the true cost...

I suppose another related question is how much would you be prepared to pay!

Random question: where is this commercial?

TheWhiteSkull — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 19:47:14 -0800

Has anyone seen this commercial? A client of mine has asked about this commercial for VISA that launched last week, specifically where it's running, is there similar imagery in other media (print, etc.). It won't show up in our measurement tools for at least another month or so, but she seems to have a bug up her ass about it, so any help the hivemind could give me would be appreciated.

Why does PBS have commercials?

swift — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 16:38:00 -0800

Is public broadcasting really public if it has commercials? How and why did this happen?

Big Mac jingle, when did it stop airing?

jammer — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 20:17:43 -0800

I've searched and searched, and can't find an answer to this simple question: What was the last year in which McDonalds used the "two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun" jingle in a commercial?

Who made this PBS commercial?

scazza — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 12:16:14 -0800

I love some of the commercials for PBS. There is one playing currently that is constructed around the story of Little Red Riding Hood's wolf. Philip Glass' music from The Hours is throughout, a father is reading the story to his daughter, then gets interrupted by Lara Spencer, Charlie Rose ("In my interview with the wolf, he said he does his own stunts to add more realism to the story"), Jim Lehrer, Bernadette Peters and a couple others who I don't know, who all have comments about the wolf. Is this commercial available online? Does anyone know who made this?

Is the Geico Caveman racist?

Fupped Duck — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 11:35:03 -0800

The Geico Caveman TV commercial.
Is it racist or just brilliant?

Why do car companies advertise so heavily in proportion to other companies?

tlong — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 16:41:34 -0800

Tonight I am watching my daily dose of the Simpsons and Seinfeld. At least 50% of the commercials are for automobile companies. My Marketing 101 question: Why do car companies advertise so heavily in proportion to other companies? The average American buys a car once every few years, and a traffic jam can give you all the brand recognition you need. Why the hard sell on tv and in magazines?

Non-spammy ways to spread the word about an auction?

nakedcodemonkey — Sat, 07 Aug 2004 00:17:05 -0800

Help me figure out this auction marketing thing.

I'm thinking about selling some items from a defunct tv show. Since the current market for the show appears slow on eBay, and its fanbase seems to be pretty scattered. Fanfic, episodes guides, FAQs, etc. but not much in the way of communities. So I'm not confident an auction would be noticed by interested collectors without spreading word of mouth. Is that how this works? And if so, are there generally-accepted ground rules for (tasteful, non-spammy ways of) putting the word out?

Why do some drug advertisments not include the function of the drug whils others do?

stonerose — Mon, 16 Feb 2004 17:41:29 -0800

In the U.S., some televised prescription drug ads tell you exactly what the drug is for. Others only allude cryptically to the drug's function. Still others just show a middle-aged, sweater-clad couple enjoying a sunset on a beach. Or Mike Ditka. Why?