Perdita
01-10-2008, 10:13
Viewers who like to avoid advert breaks by fast-forwarding through them or making a cup of tea, will no longer be able to avoid them under new plans revealed by ITV.
The broadcaster is developing a form of advertisement that is embedded into programmes, showing logos or messages in clear spaces such as blue sky.
The new technology is known as 'automatically placed overlay advertising' and has been developed by Californian company Keystream.
It is being tested on some of the news footage shown on the ITV Local website, with logos from USwtich.com and Freesat appearing in the background. If well-received it could be rolled out onto ITV's television programmes.
Simon Fell, head of future technology at ITV, said: 'There's a lot of potential. If there's a scene in a programme where there's time, then it could give us a chance to get an ad away. But obviously on television you won't be seeing one of these appearing at a crunch point in a drama.
'The technology looks at moments in the video where it finds segments that are big enough to get a non-moving logo in. Rather than an editor sitting through it and finding space, and all the effort that takes, this does it all automatically.
'We're trialling it online, where it's a manageable area and allows us to get feedback from both advertisers and viewers. It gives us another tool in the arsenal, and it's subtle.'
However, television regulator Ofcom has yet to decide whether the new technology would be allowed within current legislation. Subliminal advertising and product placement is banned on British television.
Plus viewers could become irritated by the adverts and choose to switch-over or switch-off rather than watch the adverts.
Colin Macleod, research director at the World Advertising Research Centre, an independent advisory body, said: 'Consumers are becoming a lot more clever in avoiding advertising, and now that they've got the technology to do it it's become a big issue for advertisers. They need to be smarter.
'Anything that they are able to use to attract viewers' attention they will welcome, but as long as viewers feel comfortable about it. This potentially could cause some friction between broadcaster and consumer.'
This will put me off, I know that now. Advertising has no place in any scenes, whether crunch point or not. :angry:
The broadcaster is developing a form of advertisement that is embedded into programmes, showing logos or messages in clear spaces such as blue sky.
The new technology is known as 'automatically placed overlay advertising' and has been developed by Californian company Keystream.
It is being tested on some of the news footage shown on the ITV Local website, with logos from USwtich.com and Freesat appearing in the background. If well-received it could be rolled out onto ITV's television programmes.
Simon Fell, head of future technology at ITV, said: 'There's a lot of potential. If there's a scene in a programme where there's time, then it could give us a chance to get an ad away. But obviously on television you won't be seeing one of these appearing at a crunch point in a drama.
'The technology looks at moments in the video where it finds segments that are big enough to get a non-moving logo in. Rather than an editor sitting through it and finding space, and all the effort that takes, this does it all automatically.
'We're trialling it online, where it's a manageable area and allows us to get feedback from both advertisers and viewers. It gives us another tool in the arsenal, and it's subtle.'
However, television regulator Ofcom has yet to decide whether the new technology would be allowed within current legislation. Subliminal advertising and product placement is banned on British television.
Plus viewers could become irritated by the adverts and choose to switch-over or switch-off rather than watch the adverts.
Colin Macleod, research director at the World Advertising Research Centre, an independent advisory body, said: 'Consumers are becoming a lot more clever in avoiding advertising, and now that they've got the technology to do it it's become a big issue for advertisers. They need to be smarter.
'Anything that they are able to use to attract viewers' attention they will welcome, but as long as viewers feel comfortable about it. This potentially could cause some friction between broadcaster and consumer.'
This will put me off, I know that now. Advertising has no place in any scenes, whether crunch point or not. :angry: