As a marketer, I’m trying more and more to be less of an interruption marketer. Not sure what that means? Well, marketing genius Seth Godin can tell you.
As Seth said, those days of interrupting strangers are over.
But, marketers are still doing it. Why? Well, old habits die hard. Plus, the Internet enables us to interrupt people more frequently and in more ways than ever before. Take pre-roll advertising. Don’t know what that is? Sure you do, you just may not know it by that name. If you’ve ever been on YouTube you’ve seen them. They’re the commercials that appear before the video you want to watch. So, before you see the official trailer for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” you have to endure an ad for The Art Institute.
I don’t want to see an ad for The Art Institute, though I have nothing against the school or artists. I just want to see if Daniel Craig will look better as Mikael Blomkvist than Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist did in the original movie. Those pre-roll ads are annoying. They’re interrupting.
And, I’m not the only one who says so. According to Forrester Research two-thirds of consumers ignore those ads. While people tend to be more accepting of commercials on TV, they’re less tolerant of them online.
But let the dude from Forrester tell you more.
So, am I the only one who hates those ads? Do you like them or hate them. Tell me. I really do want to know.
jugglingwithnoballs 
Agree! I usually stare blankly at the screen or occupy my time doing something else while those commercials play. They are nothing but an annoyance!
I’m with you, Sandy.
I’ll multitask while the unwanted commecial plays, which means I’m not paying attention to it at all, definitely not what the advertiser originally intended.
I definitely dislike most of them, and always hope that there is a “Skip This Ad” button. However, I do find myself watching the more entertaining pre-roll ads, such as the AT&T commercials you see on television. Cox Cable, no thank you; McDonalds Chicken McNuggets, I’ll pass… for now.
In the end I have to suck it up and sit through the 15 painstaking seconds before the video I actually want to watch begins to buffer.
There are more entertaining pre-roll ads? Only a genius like you would know that.
You’re right. It’s usually only 15 seconds. I shouldn’t get so frustrated and annoyed. Yet, I do.
Hope all is well with you.
They are annoying. Like the unsolicited phone call during dinner. If I’m trying to see a video–I don’t like the interruption. Rarely pay attention. Have never felt moved to purchase etc.
I don’t like the interruption either, Dick.
In this example, I was really excited to see the trailer since I read the trilogy and saw the first Swedish-made installment.
But then, I had to endure an ad for the Art Institute. It made me kinda mad.
I can’t stand those commercials – there’s enough advertising crap on TV and radio. Get it off the web.
I’m with you, Jack. Unfortunately, marketers go where the consumers are, and since they’re on YouTube, that’s where they target.
But, we’re just making some people angry when we interrupt them. We need to do better.
I hate the pre-roll ads! I get why they need to exist … but still do not like sitting through them! I usually open up a different tab on the computer and do something else until the ad is done and the intended video starts!
Hi Annie,
Multitasking at its finest. However, when we do that, all the work that the marketer has done to create that pre-roll ad has gone to waste.
Hmm … perhaps when they stop seeing any results from them they’ll stop doing it. What do you think?
They may get rid of them all together … or maybe most of them will be like some of the ads on hulu – the ones that at the very beginning of the show, etc, that you are allowed to choose if you want the interruptions or the long version at the very beginning so the show does not have to be interrupted? Although I guess I can still multitask during that too. Sorry marketer! Or maybe this is why they started putting in so many commercials at the beginning of movies in the theaters – so you are forced to watch the ads!
Irritating. Frustrating. Annoying. How about all of the above? These commercials can ruin the viewing experience altogether. In all honestly, I have skipped a video entirely just to avoid being subject to learning about the latest innovative product. Don’t marketers reach us enough already? It is easy to feel overwhelmed.
Hi Scott,
You will even skip a video? Wow, you must really hate them. But, I’m with you. When I access a video online, that’s what I want to see not some ad for something I don’t care about.
The Internet is a great tool for many reasons. While it’s opened up many more opportunities for marketers to target us, that doesn’t mean that we as the consumers will like all that marketers do or respond accordingly.
I don’t watch them at all! They are as much of a nuisance as commercials on TV. However, I do use them for a good excuse to catch-up on something else for a minute or so!
As a marketer, that just about makes me want to cry. As a consumer, I totally understand and usually do the same thing as you.
I agree with “the dude from Forrester”. Less tolerance and very little click-through, yet the ads keep coming. One series of ads that I have found that I listen too, and which do not offend me, are ones embedded within Podcasts and delivered just like the old radio days (also think, Paul Harvey) where the host of the show jumps in and back out of an ad alomost seamlessly within the show.
This brave new digital world is both exciting and scary from a marketing perspective. It enables us to find our target audiences more easily,use much more creative methods, and engage them like we never could before.
However, it also gives us many more ways to make people mad by interrupting them in new spaces.