I Refuse to Watch a Commercial in Order to Watch Another Commercial

I get it: people refuse to pay for online content, and online ad rates are so dismal that it's virtually impossible to support content-based websites based on banner ads alone.

So corporations and website owners are increasingly relying on the one sliver of online advertising where they can charge decent rates: video advertising.

When you think about it, these ads are probably even more valuable than the current Big Kahuna of advertising: television ads. After all, what with all the DVRs, these days a lot of people fast-forward though commercials – and you can't fast-forward through online video ads.

BUT GIVE ME A FRICKIN' BREAK! IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO SIT THROUGH A 30-SECOND AD TO WATCH A TWO-MINUTE VIDEO, YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN GOURD!

And this one really takes my cake: video commercials before movie trailers.

Do they not realize what a movie trailer is? It's a commercial!

This attempt to squeeze all the juice out of the advertising orange isn't just greedy, it's stupid. Yes, I'm probably always going to watch the trailer for the movie I really, really want to see – but then again, they didn't need the trailer to sell me on that movie. I was going to see it anyway.

Which trailers am I definitely not going to watch if they force me to sit through a 15 or 30-second commercial first? Uh huh – the movie that I'm only mildly interested in seeing, the one I have to be persuaded to shell out money for.

In other words, exactly the kind of viewer you'd they think they would want to watch their damn movie trailer!

Penny-wise, pound-foolish. Or killing the goose that laid the golden egg – pick your metaphor.

Supposedly, viewers' previously-hostile attitudes toward these kinds of ads have "softened." – the way movie-goers attitudes have changed over the years about movie-theater commercials.

I seriously doubt it. But even if that's true, isn't it better to err on the side of some caution? Look what happened with pop-up ads: advertisers went too far and pop-up ad blockers ended up being the default setting on every single browser. They don't think there's a technology that can enable people to fast-forward through video advertising too?

The more they annoy the hell out of people, the quicker a technology that can subvert that is going to be invented and become widespread.

Incidentally, not "everyone" is doing this. Here at AfterElton.com, we have a policy of no video advertising before videos that are less than two minutes long. And the fact that that's kind of a big deal is an indication of just how out-of-whack the whole system has already become.

But every day, we get pitched video clips from the networks and film studios. "Please cover our product!" they tell us, desperate to see their preview content go viral.

If it's something we think our viewers might like, we say, "Sure, but that commercial before the clip has got to go."

"Sorry," they sometimes say. "That's impossible."

Impossible? we want to say. Really? Apparently they misunderstand the whole notion of 'viral advertising,' which is when people and editors pass something onto their friends and readers because they love it and really want to support it. It's "free" advertising based entirely on goodwill.

It's hard to inspire much goodwill when you're really, really pissing people off – or openly trying to take advantage of them. Just sayin'.

I'm a reasonable person. I think most of us are. We understand that, all this "freemium" bulls**t notwithstanding, there's no such thing as a free lunch. So I’m willing to put up with some discomfort in order to get the content I want: I have no problems with the way Hulu does it with their main programming, for example (although it annoys me that they too place ads in front of trailers and other preview content).

I also understand how there will always be a healthy tension between those who want us to watch advertising and the rest of us who don't.

But come on. An ad to watch a three-minute video? Ads to watch other ads or preview clips? That's a non-starter, and everyone knows it. The sooner content providers accept that, the better off we'll all be.