Jeremy was disappointed to discover Comcast dropped banner ads onto his DVR this week:
I noticed I’d lost about 1/8th of my overall screen space to a new “advertisement slot.” Worse yet, I’ve lost 2 (of 6) lines of the visible grid area, meaning I have to spend roughly 1/3 longer than before just to scroll through channels.
Assuming he’s stuck with them, JT provides several interesting suggestions on how Comast (or is it Motorola?) might improve their ad-serving implementation. Until then, he wonders where that Comcast-Motorola-TiVo is… While he’ll get a better interface (one day), the ads won’t be going away:
make the TiVo(R) service and advertising capability widely available to Comcast customers
combine TiVo’s unmatched DVR features and innovative advertising capabilities with the power of Comcast’s advanced digital television services
TiVo and Comcast will make TiVo’s interactive advertising platform available across Comcast’s customer base
I’m more tolerant of ads these days… Believe it or not, TiVo and Comcast advertising methods are positively subtle compared to the screen real estate Microsoft wastes on my Xbox 360. (At least today’s ads are related to gaming!)