New frontiers in video on demand

I know that the ads shown during the Super Bowl are popular and all, but I'm not so sure about this.

The NFL plans to pull together a half-hour show consisting of this year's Super Bowl television ads for its video-on-demand platform, according to AdAge. A similar Super Bowl commercial show has been run on the NFL Network's cable channel for the last two years. However, that show did not appear until mid-week after the game, while the VOD show will be available just hours later.

Rights issues are complicated, particularly for movie studios, because they have to "pay the talent, and for them the cost means it's just not feasible" to give VOD rights to the NFL, said David Pattillo, director-media sales, NFL Network. But overall, around 80 percent of the advertisers involved in the Super Bowl have supplied their ads for the show.

The main question I have is whether they plan to make this freely available, or if they intend to charge people for the privilege of watching advertisements. If it's the latter - and I suspect it is, since the NFL doesn't do anything for free - I can only marvel at the prospect. I don't know what demographic they think will be willing to shell out $19.95 or whatever they'll have to cough up, but I'll bet it's one that advertisers will really love. Would it be overkill to suggest the NFL sell some ads for this production? It's not like they'd be out of place, after all.

Thanks to Banjo for the link.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 13, 2005 to TV and movies | TrackBack