I’ve realised recently how little television I watch, but not only that how very little live television. If it wasn’t for the children watching Scooby Doo live then I would probably get rid of the TV licence!
In terms of pre-recorded stuff, the main avenues that I watch are BBC iPlayer, Netflix, iTunes and recorded television using my Elgato EyeTV tuner on the Mac. Reflecting I did note that I rarely watch ITVPlayer, 5 on Demand and 4OD.
Watching 4OD on my iPad the other day I was slightly shocked, astounded and annoyed by the number of adverts. In one advert “break” there were seven adverts to “watch” before the programme continued.
As you might expect there was no way to “avoid” the adverts and as it was on my iPad I couldn’t switch to something else while they were playing.
I know really I shouldn’t be astounded, as 4OD is not funded by the licence fee, and when broadcast live there are also adverts. If I had recorded the programme then I could have fast forwarded through the adverts, or if I had bought the programme on iTunes then there would also have been no adverts.
I think my astonishment was more down to how rarely I watch advertisement supported television than the actual number of adverts.