Time Warner and Comcast Want to Make You Watch Commercials Again

Advertisers have always hated DVR and video on demand (VOD) because they give people a way to watch the stuff they like (TV shows) without any of the stuff they don’t (commercials).

Networks complain they make ad spots harder to sell, since advertisers can’t be sure when people would actually watch their programs -- a day later? A week later? If a movie studio wants to advertise an upcoming film, how can it be sure people will see its trailers before opening weekend?

The two sides have hit on a potential solution called dynamic ad insertion. That’s the industry term for swapping out old ads for new ones depending on when a prerecorded program is being watched.

Time Warner announced that it will start offering complete seasons of some of its shows on Comcast’s Xfinity TV and digital VOD platforms. That will give customers greater access to even more programming, but they’ll also have to watch more advertising, because fast-forwarding will be disabled. And the advertising will feature dynamic ad insertion, so advertisers can be assured their commercials are fresh.