Why do commercials repeat while streaming?

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When I watch cable TV I never see the same commercial twice in a row. When I watch TV via streaming services it’s really common to get the same commercial 2, 3 or maybe even 4 times in a row. Why does this happen?

In: 8

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

OP, I agree it’s silly.

If I was an advertiser I might value repetition for a viewer showing the same ad again during the same show but I would assign negative value to playing the ad back to back.

It’s more likely to trigger animosity than good will.

Anonymous 0 Comments

TV channels, in general, will have a broad selection of adverts that are intended for a “diverse” audience. It’s because each channel is intended to reach a large audience and can’t really cater specifically to anyone’s particular interests.

Streaming, on the other hand, goes to *your device*, so it’s possible to use all information that’s known about you (what you’ve clicked on in the past, etc.) to insert ads into the stream. A lot of devices block the information about you, or simply don’t collect it like a phone would, so the computer programs in charge of deciding what ads to feed you, they go buggy.

From the “program’s” point of view, you’re one of thousands of users who are currently streaming, and there are thousands of ads “looking for” certain categories of users. So it’s a matter of matching “ads” with “potentially interested users”, kinda like a dating site. Except if you don’t have a “profile”, you don’t get any matches, and you only get one or two of the ads that were labeled as “for everyone”.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Another point not mentionned here is that hte pool of ads online is tiny compared to actual TV, even before they start trying to target specific people. That selection becomes almost nothing once you’re outside the USA and Europe.

A smaller pool of ads (10 to 100x less actual different ads), then subdivided by niches as they analyze your profile, explains this phenomenon perfectly.

Mostl ocal businesses still rely mostly on tv ads, and often see no reason to move to online advertising, and big companies are just barely dipping their big toe in the water yet.