I for one am not a proponent or enjoyer of advertising. The limited tv I watch is made so much better by DVR, to skip through the commercials.
We were having a discussion about the back ads in ebooks to correspond with our printed editions. You know, those pages at the end of a printed book which tell you about sequels or other writers you like? Yes, those pages that not to many people actually read. Well, certain folks are focusing on stuffing more of those into ebooks.
But putting on the marketing hat, I saw something yesterday that would be both a marketer’s dream and possibly a reader’s nightmare.
It came from trying to watch Sunday Night Football online. The game qued up using MS Silverlight (?? Which totally sucks by the way). Before the video proceded I had to sit though a 10 ssecond commercial for Chevrolet. I am sure you have seen this on other TV websites.
When I booted up my Nook to read before bed and selected my book (WAR by Sebastian Junger…which is amazing), the screen flashed “Opening Book” for a couple of seconds and then the text appeared. Hmmmm…well ->
Instead of saying “Opening Book” , why couldn’t the flash screen say “Check out the New Chevy Camaro”.
Why could it not be an advertising screen based on the content of what I was reading? (an ad for The Army, or Kevlar, or plane tickets to Kabul?)
Why could it not be an advertising screen based on the content of my digital library? (ummm…I’ll keep that one private).
Why could it not be advertising that is not static, like back of book ads are? It could be dynamic.
Just sayin’…that little flash opening screen looks like some prime real estate for advertising dollars. And you have a captive audience. To be truly EVIL…you could then charge readers to have advertising turned off. WHAAAAHAAAAHAAAHAAA!
Cathryn Grant
September 15, 2010
That is a truly evil suggestion. Yet, inevitable. Maybe an ad could flash as the reader sweeps a finger over the page! Maybe sponsors could buy words like they buy sports stadiums … maybe they could buy words and writers would have to pay every time we use the word “car”. (possibly too much caffeine this morning)
Andrew Rogers
September 17, 2010
I agree with Cathryn, that seems inevitable, and truly evil. One of my favorite things about books is that you can read one at length, you can even complete one, without being interrupted by ads. This separates it from other ad-interrupted media (magazines, TV, radio) and puts in the realm of more “experiential” media (movies, books, albums). I shudder to think of ads in books. Even brief flashes of ads while an eBook loads.
AR