Why do TV channels have annoying station identifiers in the corners now?

Forums › Off topic › Why do TV channels have annoying station identifiers in the corners now?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#1294373 30-Apr-2015 15:55

Geektastic:
scuwp: The content is free, they can do whatever they like, and can assume no other reason (now) than to promote their brand/image. It's kind-of like complaining that the 'golden arches' are always outside McDonalds, or Holden always puts a badge with their name on every car. Marketing, plain and simple.

But to whom? People watch something particular because it is something they are interested in, not because it is on a particular channel. No one cares what channel it is on.

You mean you haven't been involved in a One News/Three News/Prime News is better argument? Many people have a particular "favorite channel" and each channel is fighting for your loyalty.

With "Three Now" and TVNZ On Demand you don't even need a TV anymore. I do have them installed, but only ever use them when something decent enough for general conversation surfaces that I need to catch up on. Like an axe murder trial, the new royal baby's name or what cloths the Kardashians are wearing this week.

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#1294374 30-Apr-2015 16:02

The bugs were originally put on as branding so you know what TV channel you are viewing, not that long ago satellite receivers were pretty dumb and just had red LED numbers on the front .. so the bugs made it easier for people to know that station 110 was Sky Sports (for example).

They still do the same trick now, at a glance you can see what channel you are watching ... if it's too intrusive tell them as part of some constructive feedback they might agree and tone it down a bit.

Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1294459 30-Apr-2015 17:46

Bee: The answer once again is Netflix :)

No ads, no logos, watch what you want when you want :)

Well, assuming that they have it, yes.

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#1294508 30-Apr-2015 19:15

Presumably because the geniuses in the marketing department think that unless there's a permanent annoying logo shoved in their faces, their average viewers are too stupid to know what they are watching? Mind you, given the drivel that seems to occupy prime time now, they might well be right about that.......

I have never seen the point personally. Particularly when they start garlanding the station logos with more and more fluff - "Home of the 2015 Inconsequential Games", pictures of Olympic rings and suchlike that take up noticeable screen real estate. They detract from the viewing experience, annoy at least some viewers, and don't seem to offer the broadcaster much in return as they yield no revenue. Unless driving viewers away is what they are secretly trying to achieve?

It's bad enough when FTA stations do it, at least we aren't paying for them. But it's insulting when paid broadcasters (I'm looking at you Sky!) do it as well. Do they really think the viewer is too stupid to know what they are watching when they are paying circa $100/month for the pleasure? Surely that's what the info button on the remote control is for?

Lurch

1061 posts

Uber Geek

#1294545 30-Apr-2015 20:44

The channel watermarks have been around since 2001, so it's not a recent thing :-) They identify the channel you are on, also being permanent it increases brand recognition and it also asserts ownership of the video signal.

When playing a station say at a store the logo also helps with brand recognition. As for taking up space on screen it's not that much, and most of the time you don't notice them or forget they're there.

There are other reasons and to be honest doesn't really annoy me as I've been watching TV with them for 12 years. I've actually been missing them since switching to Netflix and Huluplus for the past almost 2 years, although Huluplus has some now and then but don't interfere with the viewing. The Huluplus ones are quite tasteful especially with the temporary ones that appear at the beginning of each show, showing the rating and the episode details.

What is annoying is squashing down the credits and placing either the next programme or an ad in the other half. But haven't seen that for the past two years since getting the Roku box. Wikipedia is a good read.

Anyway who really cares, first world problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_on-screen_graphic

Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1294559 30-Apr-2015 20:59

My point remains, who gives a brass farthing for what the brand of the tv channel they are watching is?!

"Oh I must watch this brain dead drivel I hate because it is on my favourite channel!" said nobody, ever.

Viewer patronage is surely almost 100% dependent upon channel content, not channel brand?

mdf

3513 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1294583 30-Apr-2015 21:39

Rikkitic:
davidcole: Makes it easier to identify ads for skipping, as they don't show the logo during ad breaks.

Have you been able to automate this? I use VideoRedo but it is faster and more accurate if I do it manually. I would love to be able to capture part of the screen (like the logo) and tell my recorder to only record when this is present.

Comskip does this. So in some ways plastering logos on things can be a good thing. I guess.

I played with Comskip for a couple of hours, but it was a bit beyond my inclination/ability to set up properly. It was easier just to program a skip step to 4 minutes - works like a charm for about 90-95% of ad breaks.

Tradepub

Free professional, reference and technical white papers (affiliate link).

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1294828 1-May-2015 09:43

Anyone remember about 15 years ago TV3 ran a promotion to get a free sticker and place it at the right bottom corner of your TV screen for a couple of weeks and win a free prize?? Just a big marketing have but indicated to the marketing bunnies by the amount of stickers that hey gave away that people were quite happy with a bug on their TV screens..

Regards,

Old3eyes

DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#1294845 1-May-2015 10:05

old3eyes: Anyone remember about 15 years ago TV3 ran a promotion to get a free sticker and place it at the right bottom corner of your TV screen for a couple of weeks and win a free prize?? Just a big marketing have but indicated to the marketing bunnies by the amount of stickers that hey gave away that people were quite happy with a bug on their TV screens..

I absolutely remember that. It was actually brought back to the forefront of my memory when I mis-read Mark's post in this thread, haha!

It was a specific show(s) that had the round symbol indicating where you stick the adhesive plastic chip you bought from the petrol station (or was it Pizza Hut? Or both?) for some competition. Fooled me at the time. I was only a kid, but years later wondered how the little chip communicated with anything at all.

I didn't actually think it may have been a test for the public or some kind of marketing thing.

ilovemusic

1439 posts

Uber Geek

#1294867 1-May-2015 10:35

channel bugs.

ad banners during a program

compressed end credits, end credits of the previous show running during the start of the next show

poor picture and sound quality

abysmal content - ian fraser was right all those years ago - tv is braindead and has long moved into the zombie zone

all reasons why fta tv is on a road to nowhere.

Handsomedan

7293 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#1294875 1-May-2015 10:45

nathan: vote with your feet and stop watching

I've never watched TV with my feet.

Ever.

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

Dstarzero

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1294885 1-May-2015 11:00

Geektastic: This is bugging me.

Why is it necessary to have a stupid logo interfere with my viewing?

Also annoying are ads for other programs sliding onto the one I am watching - no need for that either.

Who thinks up these things and why do they think it either good or necessary?

Do they still have those?

Sorry I stopped watching TV since I got Netflix, hulu and amazon prime. Though hulu ads are really really annoying

Only drawback other people see is that I don't know what's happening in the bachelor NZ, glad I'm not losing brain cells to that!

*proceeds to watch jackass re-runs*

mclean

581 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#1294886 1-May-2015 11:01

Going back to the OP, I wonder if it's a form of station identification, which is a legal requirement for some broadcast radio transmissions. I think on US TV it's at least few seconds at the top of the hour. UK TV stations seem to do the same. Also radio stations here but more frequently than that. Just guessing.

Dstarzero

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1294887 1-May-2015 11:01

ilovemusic: channel bugs.

ad banners during a program

compressed end credits, end credits of the previous show running during the start of the next show

poor picture and sound quality

abysmal content - ian fraser was right all those years ago - tv is braindead and has long moved into the zombie zone

all reasons why fta tv is on a road to nowhere.

you get what you pay for.

frankv

5680 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1294888 1-May-2015 11:02

Handsomedan:
nathan: vote with your feet and stop watching

I've never watched TV with my feet.

You want to try it then... close your eyes and point your feet towards the screen. I find it's very relaxing... for some reason, my feet don't see irritating TV channel ads in the corner of the screen, credits, ads, poor picture quality, yada, yada. Just need to listen with my feet now...

1 | 2 | 3 | 4