Rich Fiscus
5 Mar 2008 1:50
The 2008 edition of the Digital Entertainment Survey, published annually by Entertainment Media Research, shows an interesting trend among the more than 1,600 U.K. residents surveyed. An overwhelming majority (70%) indicated that they have no problems with ads before streamed on-demand video, even if the ads can't be skipped. The caveat is that the purpose of the ads must be to make the content free.
Interestingly though, when asked about TV commercials, which essentially exist exactly for that purpose, nearly half said they skip all commercials, with another third saying they skip most. Less than 10% of respondents said they rarely or never skip commercials.
It's unclear exactly what's at the root of the seemingly contradictory positions, although I have to admit I'd fall in the majority who skip TV commercials, but aren't bothered by unskippable ads to watch reasonably high quality TV shows streamed online. Perhaps consumers have a better sense of online distribution costs because of what they pay for their own broadband connections.