What did we do without DVRs?  Seriously, with incredibly busy lives, demanding jobs, parenting responsibilities, working out, volunteering and maybe a social get-together once in a while, how do we find time to watch any of our TV show addictions?

As a marketing strategist and leader of an advertising, PR and interactive agency in San Diego, this poses perplexing circumstances.  I know from my own viewing habits that I do not care to see the majority of crappy TV commercials that interrupt me from my favorite shows, which is another major reason to love my DVR.  Yet at the same time, I belong to a community that strives to break through that clutter and produce marketing messages that actually reach their intended audience.  Hypocrisy?  Maybe.

But I am far from alone.  It seems like every media executive and ad agency is asking these same questions, and has been for several years.  They have even coined a term — “Appointment Viewing” — for the act of what was previously the only way to watch TV:  look at the clock, realize it is 9 pm, and sit down in front of the set to watch your scheduled program.  Yet I am intrigued by some of recent examples of interesting solutions:

• During programming for the Fox TV show Fringe, each commercial break is introduced with a message stating “Fringe will return in 60 seconds”.  I LOVE THIS.  It allows me to fast forward through the exactly two 30-second spots I know come next, and land right at the start of the next program set without that annoying overshoot-and-forced-rewind.
• Also on Fox, Dollhouse had its premier last week and boasted the same circumstances.  But this time, Fox is calling it “remote-free TV” and hoping viewers will just stay tuned and not fast forward, because they know it will only be 60-seconds before their show comes back on. And they have monetized this through increased spot costs, convincing advertisers the spot is worth more because viewers are actually watching.  Hmm.
• iTunes offers commercial-free downloads of all your favorite hit TV shows, available for viewing right on your iPod, iPhone or AppleTV.  Their sales figures are up substantially.  Obviously, viewers are willing to pay real dollars to avoid watching ads.
• Hulu is making huge strides in this area as well, doing so well in fact that they can afford ads during the Super Bowl (see comment below).  And now you will never have to miss that last episode of Search for the Next Elvira or Family Guy.
• The networks themselves are trying to play in this game.  NBC Direct has just relaunched to offer viewers a chance to download NBC programs, and store and watch them at their convenience when not connected to the web.
• And let’s not forget good old Netflix, where you can rent DVDs of a whole past season of your favorites.  This way, you don’t even have to keep up within the same year!  You can just plug your ears at the water cooler, wait until the season ends, and have the disks delivered right to your house to watch at your leisure.  Several friends have told me this is how they got up to speed on programs like 24 and Desperate Housewives, so they could join the season in progress and not feel completely left out.

So with all these choices, what really does the future hold for real-time TV or “appointment viewing”?

Undoubtedly, we will continue to see two trends: 1) more expensive advertising rates for guaranteed eyeballs, meaning that advertisers will pay a premium when they are convinced people will actually see their spots (like the Super Bowl for example); and 2) plummeting ad rates for programs that cannot make these claims (like cable TV rates you can get for as little as $20 spot or lower).

And for marketing strategists like Bailey Gardiner, we will continually strive to recommend smarter ways around this for our clients.  In the fight for eyeballs and attention, maybe traditional TV spots just don’t fit the bill.  Digital solutions, guerilla marketing, social media marketing and yes, good advertising (TV or otherwise) — all potential options for a successful marketing effort.  Holding the public’s attention long enough to make an impression is really the battle now.

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