The IMDB has a very interesting tidbit that suggests big movie studios are considering dropping their extensive and costly advertising on network TV. The reason?
DVRs. Tivo and cable company DVRs are becoming more and more popular, and as they do, advertising for movies becomes less and less effective. Not only do people skip the commercials, but more over, sometimes people don’t watch the shows until days after they air. If a studio spends big money on a Thursday night movie push, and the viewer doesn’t see it until that next week, then the money they spend on advertising the day before release is effectively waisted.
I can see the point of the movie studio…and I think all the free advertising on online sites probably helps…I mean, I don’t know about you, but I watch trailers all the time…heck I post trailers here all the time..and the studio isn’t paying a DIME for that.
Free online advertising isn’t the only reason to be sure, but when you factor in the time factor of Network TV ads, and the lower cost of online advertising, and for several movie studios…network ads just don’t make sense.