Time is of the ultimate essence to the younger, millennial generation. They try to live out as many experiences as possible at a given moment and despise wasting their precious hours. If they want something, they want it right there, right then, without the extra charge and extra wait time. ‘Instant gratification’ is the word of the day, and it applies more than anything to their TV watching habit. Television is an important source of entertainment, without a doubt. Though new models of content delivery have come up in recent years, cable continues to reign supreme. Cable TV has incredible benefits, but there is a feature that makes it less likable among the current viewership. It is the onslaught of commercials and ads, which breaks the flow of programming and causes the younger American viewers to lash out in exasperation. Why do we even see ads on TV in this digital age, and why do we have to bear with them? Is there a way out? Let’s find out below.
Commercials and TV Channels
Advertisements carry an infotainment value, updating the viewers about new market trends and deals on products or services that they might find interesting. We have all grown up watching them. They have been a central part of our culture, despite everything. Remember the “Whassup!” ad or “Where’s the beef?” Timeless, original, and popular masterpieces. This is one of the major reasons why commercials still haven’t left the television-scape, even though people find them more and more intrusive in the present era.
Another reason why you see ads on TV is that advertising agencies pay a heavy sum to the cable networks for running them. The appeal of a revenue side-stream is too hard to resist, which is why cable carriers continue to air commercials between broadcasts. While an ideal ad-to-program ratio should be 10% – 90% per channel, today, we have 40% of our TV time taken over by annoying ads, which makes it worse and brings us to question why we should even pay for TV channels when all we have left to watch are ads.
Paying for Cable TV… Regardless
There are so many perks which accompany a good cable service like Cox cable TV. You get hundreds of amazing cable channels, from local access to big-star regional networks, on your daily programming. There’s also an option to add-on premium subscriptions from top-range platforms such as HBO®, SHOWTIME®, and CINEMAX® to your package. If you’re into sports, you can catch the games live on your TV as they unfold and keep up with the scores and home runs in high-definition. Cable TV also brings you an on-demand facility, which you can avail to turn those boring evenings around and fill your entertainment appetite to the max. Keep all these remarkable features on one side and the commercials on the other, you’ll see that the balance tilts in favor of the pros of cable TV, which far outrank the cons.
People still pay to watch TV channels because the entertainment offerings of cable companies exceed the general air of dislike around the ads. You learn to compromise when you know that you’re getting more in return.
Possible Solutions
However, there are workarounds using which you can skip the commercials and keep watching your favorite television content on end.
- The first is that you can record a TV episode, movie, or sporting event on DVR, offered by your cable provider. Recording lets you skip ads altogether and watch the broadcast content at your own time and pace.
- The second solution is that you can download TV channel apps on your chosen devices, given that they are a part of your package and supported by your provider, and stream a show or movie ad-free. TV channel apps and websites upload content several hours following the airtime, so you might have to wait, in this case.
- And, the third solution is that you can introduce streaming services, like Netflix, into your entertainment routine and watch movies or episodes without being interrupted by ads. Streaming services are not free from advertisements either, but those ads are integrated subtly into the interface, so either they don’t come under your notice altogether or they have a shorter run time, consisting of a few seconds.
Final Thoughts
Cable television is an important part of our daily routine, giving us access to amazing content. The only thing that mars it is the TV commercial train, which may have been a popular means of marketing once but is now generally loathed by viewers. The sun is finally setting on TV commercials, with more and more people voting against them and even going to the extent of abandoning their cable connections due to ad-proliferation. You can avoid commercials by recording via DVR or streaming online. It’s up to you.
