I really understand why people put 5 mins advertisement break for every 15/30 min of TV dramas. I also understand the repeated reminder to tune in to FMXX.X and why the DJ talks a lot and why there’s also a radio advert after like 2 or 3 songs.

Usually for the 1-hour TV shows, it’s enough time for me to 1) brush my teeth; 2) prepare stuff for the next day and 3) toilet break. I remember there was this time the TV station tried to make it irregular by putting 1 random advert abruptly in the middle of the show, and people thought it’s gonna last for 5 mins, so they would go off and do their thing. And when they come back to realise 5mins of the show has already passed, it was already too late. it’s probably introduced to condition people back to believing all the advertisements will be this short, so that they will sit through the entire 5 mins thinking the show will start in another minute, but apparently it didn’t go that well. As far as I know, it’s not happening these days (correct me if I’m wrong though, I don’t watch that much TV)

But anyway… the point of this post is: why do they have to do the same to online streaming as well!??!?!

We thought we could be rid of those irritating advertisements if we stream a video online… or that we can continuously listen to our favourite music without interruptions of the DJ’s long stories… but it seems that those days are gone. Streaming for free is taxing on the webmaster – both hosting-wise and maintenance-wise. And we have all become desensitised to the banners around the video. The only spot that the audience is focused on is – you guessed it – the movie itself.

So hey, why don’t we put advertisements on the video instead? We could have one every 10 mins (and an Anime is only 20 minutes long minus the opening and ending song). It could be related to the Anime, or an advertisement of the Anime itself! (which, in my opinion, is really kind of stupid, but it happens) And so I was watching Macross Frontier and a 5 seconds long advertisement on Macross Frontier itself pops up. It was short, but still disruptive. And the worst thing is you can’t really do much during this 5 seconds – if you try to skip this tiny part you might even miss your show and end up wasting more time by rewinding back. (This I’ll admit, they have really calculated well)

At first I thought that it may have defeated the purpose of watching a video online – because it is suppose to load videos WITHOUT advertisements for you. But on second thoughts, this was actually not the purpose in the first place. People wanted to watch free videos, overseas videos, first-hand or limited videos that are not shown on local channels. And we all know the legal issues surrounding downloads, and hence the streaming technology. However, now that streaming is not so illegal, it’s time to make some money from it – or help the video industry. Especially if it’s hosted on a .com or .net site, you’ll definitely need some basic financial backing.

And as much as I hate to say it I guess it does really work. But I don’t suppose people will continue coming back to the site unless the site is really good (has all the shows you want, loads fast, good quality), because for me, I definitely cannot be bothered to look for an alternative site unless they put really bad advertisements inside (like maybe try to advertise a scrub or Kleenex out of nowhere). And here’s something good for the video industry – It will probably prompt more buyers to get the original video instead of watching it online, that is, if you can’t stand your show being interrupted for more than 5 seconds.

But if you’re poor like me, online streaming is still the best way out. You just need to grit your teeth for 5 seconds and it will soon be over. xD