How did it come to be that the channel with some of the smartest programming has some of the dumbest advertising?
All day long on the Smithsonian Channel, they run ads for dubious “As Seen On TV!” products like Wipe New, the Neat Scanner, Perfect Pancake pans, sticky pads to hold vases in place, etc. It’s like one of the best museums on the planet got married to a cruddy home shopping channel.
Not that I’m expecting ads from Mensa or some other hypothetically “intelligent” products or services, and basic economics dictate that they run whatever brings in the dollars, but the contrast is stark.
“Has this ever happened to you? You’re watching TV and a dumb ad comes on. What to DO??? Try new TV Commercial Skip, the DVR feature that allows you to skip annoying commercials like that!!” {{Snaps fingers}}
It is surprising that they don’t get more high-end advertisers, considering who is likely to watch the channel.
Or, maybe my idea of who is likely to watch is wrong…whenever I see ads for that type of product, I imagine that they’re aimed at older, people with little disposable income who think they’re getting something perfect and awesome for a great price. No really, order now and they get two.
On a barely related note, it’s depressing they’re doing that reality show about famous people buying clothing. I take it as a sign that it’s just a matter of time until Smithsonian’s as useless as the History Channel. Maybe the ads are just from the future.
Seems the target intellectual level of commercials are less dependent on the channel and more dependent on the time of day.
Dumb ads seem to target people who have the time to watch TV in the middle of the day on weekdays.
I think this is normal for new TV stations. It takes time for them to gain traction with advertisers, who don’t want to pay for advertising on unproven channels. I’ve watched in amusement as the commercials for Food Network Canada have improved from these crappy gadget ads to more mainstream productions. OutTV is going through a similar process right now as it increases in popularity and programming quality.
That’s why I’m so baffled why my local TV station runs Jeopardy at 2:30 and Wheel of Fortune at 6:30. I figure it should be the opposite: the smarter TV viewers (i.e., the potential Jeopardy viewers) are more likely than the dumb viewers (i.e., WOF viewers) to be at work in the daytime and not be around to watch TV at 2:30.
[QUOTE=StGermain]
“Has this ever happened to you? You’re watching TV and a dumb ad comes on. What to DO??? Try new TV Commercial Skip, the DVR feature that allows you to skip annoying commercials like that!!” {{Snaps fingers}}
StG
[/QUOTE]
I never said I was watching the commercials. I just see enough snips of them when blipping past.
