TVNZ OnDemand - Advertisement Frequency and Length

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alisam

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#295751 20-Apr-2022 17:45

Watching Extant on TVNZ OnDemand.

I cannot figure out if there is any pattern to the Adverts.

Last night (8:30-9:30 pm) it was a 2-3 second break with zero adverts.

This morning (before my Working From Home started) it could be 30-60 seconds with adverts.

I haven't bothered to time the number of minutes between ads.

Quite frankly, I'd rather watch something on Netflix.

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#2904494 20-Apr-2022 17:54

I've always found the ads are apparently random, both in length and frequency.

What annoys me the most is when you watch an ad, you pause the show to wait for the significant other to return, then it immediately plays you another ad.

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eracode

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#2904575 20-Apr-2022 21:15

Don’t forget TVNZOD is free to air - NF isn’t. I totally hate watching ads and basically will not watch FTA commercial TV. However I find TVNZOD is tolerable because the ads are short, quick and few of them - finished before you know it. I put up with that because there is actually quite a bit of good stuff on OD.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

gzt

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#2904584 20-Apr-2022 22:01

rscole86: What annoys me the most is when you watch an ad, you pause the show to wait for the significant other to return, then it immediately plays you another ad.

Similar experience yesterday. It will be a while before I try again.

old3eyes

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#2904782 21-Apr-2022 11:19

eracode:

Don’t forget TVNZOD is free to air - NF isn’t. I totally hate watching ads and basically will not watch FTA commercial TV. However I find TVNZOD is tolerable because the ads are short, quick and few of them - finished before you know it. I put up with that because there is actually quite a bit of good stuff on OD.

Yes they are short. Some of the US On Demand services I've watch have full 4 minute ad breaks which kills it.

Regards,

Old3eyes

openmedia

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#2904807 21-Apr-2022 11:51

old3eyes:

eracode:

Don’t forget TVNZOD is free to air - NF isn’t. I totally hate watching ads and basically will not watch FTA commercial TV. However I find TVNZOD is tolerable because the ads are short, quick and few of them - finished before you know it. I put up with that because there is actually quite a bit of good stuff on OD.

Yes they are short. Some of the US On Demand services I've watch have full 4 minute ad breaks which kills it.

This is a real problem with CW. We used to use their app to stream shows, and sometimes we got adverts in French, and more recently we actually got NZ targeted adverts.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

eracode

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#2904827 21-Apr-2022 12:46

old3eyes:

eracode:

Don’t forget TVNZOD is free to air - NF isn’t. I totally hate watching ads and basically will not watch FTA commercial TV. However I find TVNZOD is tolerable because the ads are short, quick and few of them - finished before you know it. I put up with that because there is actually quite a bit of good stuff on OD.

Yes they are short. Some of the US On Demand services I've watch have full 4 minute ad breaks which kills it.

The worst I've seen is UK-based ITV Hub streaming. They dynamically tailor the length of their ad breaks to the popularity and viewing time-of-day of the programme. This probably due to what the advertisers are prepared to pay for. Recent, popular shows have almost as much ad time as programme time. Ad breaks on old shows watched off-peak are more like the short breaks on TVNZOD - probably because advertisers don't want to pay for stuff no-one is watching. Would have thought they might adjust their ad pricing but apparently not. I refuse to watch it but Mrs Code does.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

wratterus

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#2904830 21-Apr-2022 13:09

I was watching NZ Hunter Adventures last night and there seemed to be tons of ads, way more than normal, and mostly a minute long. It's normally fine, but this was noticeably more than normal & longer.

alisam

689 posts

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#2904860 21-Apr-2022 14:31

I do wonder why TVNZ would insert multiple 3 second breaks into a program.

Perhaps they were hoping to fill the slot and expand the break time later. Since nobody decided to advertise, the breaks remain.

gareth41

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#2904866 21-Apr-2022 14:54

Some of these OD providers its not too difficult to block the adds if they're not encoded into the same stream as the main content. Majority of these streams have a mpeg dash manifest or m3u8 which lists all the segments - all of them are "stitched" in together for playback, the segments which are the adds are usually distinguishable from the main content and you can sometimes block them using a plain old hosts file pointing them to 127.0.0.1

mattwnz

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#2904867 21-Apr-2022 14:55

YouTube has been getting worse and worse. Guess they want to push people over to premium. But then the video creators don't get paid as much from the ads when people are viewing on premium. I don't use TVNZ on demand due to the ads and the program starting for a few seconds and then going straight onto adverts. Instead use VTV and skipping through the ads. Also have a tivo and can record than skip through the ads.

Oblivian

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#2904871 21-Apr-2022 15:10

gareth41:
Some of these OD providers its not too difficult to block the adds if they're not encoded into the same stream as the main content. Majority of these streams have a mpeg dash manifest or m3u8 which lists all the segments - all of them are "stitched" in together for playback, the segments which are the adds are usually distinguishable from the main content and you can sometimes block them using a plain old hosts file pointing them to 127.0.0.1

Already using a well established app+plugin for that myself ;)

Just easier than most as a device is near the tv rather than the all in 1 options people prefer the functions of.

Journeyman

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#2905450 22-Apr-2022 16:40

alisam:

I do wonder why TVNZ would insert multiple 3 second breaks into a program.

Perhaps they were hoping to fill the slot and expand the break time later. Since nobody decided to advertise, the breaks remain.

I imagine that's probably exactly what it is. The 3 second breaks will just be the natural programme breaks as determined by the supplier of the show.

ajw

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#2905462 22-Apr-2022 17:48

Binge watched " killing eve" yesterday. As I'm thinking of dumping netflix the amount of advertising was minimal and I watched the full series.

alisam

689 posts

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#2905474 22-Apr-2022 19:57

I do like the fact they give you a countdown on the number of seconds are left on the Ad break.

JimmyH

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#2905760 23-Apr-2022 16:24

I loathe ads. With an almost visceral hatred. Life is too short to put up with that jarring and annoying nonsense. It's why I don't watch free to air TV pretty much at all, why I seldom use the NZ broadcaster's streaming services (except for kids shows on TVNZ for the young fella - they seem to be ad free), and why I parted company with Sky. Sky was particularly egregious - bombarding me with ads when I was already paying handsomely for the feed was insulting.

I might be interested in the programming on TVNZ on demand if there was an ad free option, at a reasonable price given their tiny and largely dated content line up compared to other services.

At the moment I have Spotify, Disney Plus, Netflix, and my own media server. If there is appoint where my entertainment starts being interrupted by annoying ads I will cancel the subscription same day.

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