Quality of locally inserted ads

[jasonacg]

Over the last few months, I have seen fewer and fewer local advertisements for local merchants. Instead, an overwhelming number of ads have been for medical class action lawsuits, debt consolidation, mortgage modifications, and delinquent tax negotiation. Often, an entire block of local ads is made up of these spots.

Is Verizon having problems selling local advertising time? Honestly, I would rather see commercials from local companies, than national spots for "ambulance chasers," and other opportunistic legal services. I'm sure you'll agree, these ads can't all be representative of your customer base.

[walt178]

Verizon ads are for their services.  The ads you are talking about come from the content provider and Verizon has no control over them.

[jasonacg]

On a number of major cable channels, there are advertising slots filled by that national network, and there are ad slots that can be filled by the local broadcast provider, be it Verizon, or another local cable provider. I'm referring to the latter.

[walt178]

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@jasonacg wrote:

On a number of major cable channels, there are advertising slots filled by that national network, and there are ad slots that can be filled by the local broadcast provider, be it Verizon, or another local cable provider. I'm referring to the latter.

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I do not believe that is accurate.  Some ad slots are filled by the network; some slots are allocated to the local affiliate. If Verizon (or cable company) wants advertising space they would have to buy it just like any other advertiser. 

[PJL]

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@walt178 wrote:

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@jasonacg wrote:

On a number of major cable channels, there are advertising slots filled by that national network, and there are ad slots that can be filled by the local broadcast provider, be it Verizon, or another local cable provider. I'm referring to the latter.

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I do not believe that is accurate.  Some ad slots are filled by the network; some slots are allocated to the local affiliate. If Verizon (or cable company) wants advertising space they would have to buy it just like any other advertiser. 

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Some time is indeed allocated to the local cable company.  Locally inserted ads appear on channels that do not have a local affiliates such as HDTV and the Food Network (and others).  They have no "affiliates" in my area and have inserted ads.  (Do these two channels even have "affiliates" at all?)

[jasonacg]

Instead of debating the point, I'll just refer you to a company called Viamedia--you can find their site from Google. They sell advertising time for local merchants, to be carried on FiOS.

This has nothing to do with ABC, NBC, CBS, or Fox broadcast, or any other over-the-air station. I am referring to the times when a station like A&E, or HGTV, or ESPN, or Fox News, or CNN, any of dozens of other national cable networks, show an ad for the Chevy dealer in your hometown, or your local mom-and-pop furniture store. These commercials are inserted by the local cable provider, at certain times during the commercial block.

If you could put two TV's side-by-side on the same channel, one on FiOS, and one on the other local cable provider in your city (in my case, Bright House), you would see how and when they differ. The copper cable provider is still attracting the local business, while FiOS is either losing interest in generating local ad revenue, or they have lost their ability to compete.

[sangs1]

I'm sure this is location-specific, as we still get plenty of localized ads in our area. Car dealers, furniture, car services, restaurants - you name it, we get it.

[HubFlyer]

With hundreds of channels and DVR technology who watches commercials?

[sangs1]

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@HubFlyer wrote:

With hundreds of channels and DVR technology who watches commercials?

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I prefer my sports live - and I watch a lot of sports.