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NBC STARTS USING POP-UP ADS DURING PRIMETIME

Struggling network tries new way to boost ad revenue

Hollywood – After finishing its spring advertising sales drive with less than $2 billion in primetime ad commitments, fourth place network NBC has started using pop-up ads to recoup some of those losses. “I think people have come to tolerate those pop-up ads on the Internet, and they’ll appreciate seeing similar ads during episodes of ‘Law & Order’ or ‘Joey’ on our [fourth place] network,” said NBC Universal Television Group president Jeff Zucker.

NBC has attracted a number of new advertisers thanks to the pop-up initiative. Network executives say they’re particularly excited about growth in industries such as male and female products, computer viruses posing as virus protection software, and for-profit universities.

The first program to feature pop-up ads was “ER.” Last week’s episode focused on Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) who encountered an evasive patient who shocks her by revealing that she is her birth mother, who put her baby up for adoption at 15.

“It was one of the season’s better episodes,” said 64 year old viewer Grover Vilton. “But it was incredibly difficult to follow because of all those pop-up ads. I could have handled one, but in the span of five minutes there were, like, seven ads all over the screen. You could only see about a quarter of the actual show.”

While Vilton was annoyed with NBC’s new pop-ups, he said he was temporarily intrigued by an offer for a free iPod.

“I always hear my grandkids talking about those things,” added Vilton. “I’m very excited that by visiting www.freeipods.com, I can get a $300 device for free!”

Zucker, who once claimed that the sitcom “Coupling” would be the new “Friends,” said, “People were upset when they first encountered pop-up ads on the Internet, but now it doesn’t annoy people that much. I think viewers will soon get used to these pop-up ads during their favorite shows. Trust me on this one.”

NBC decided to turn to the pop-up ads after a brutal season in which the sitcom “Joey” failed to attract as strong an audience as “Friends.” NBC finished fourth in the adults 18-49 demographic that it had led for so long. Ad buyers were also underwhelmed by NBC’s plans for next season.

“This is an absolute outrage,” said Nathan Larson, the head of People for Quality Television (PQT) which has targeted NBC since “Seinfeld” went off the air.

“With the Internet, you can at least click and close those annoying pop-up ads,” said Larson. “When those ads pop up on your TV screen, it’s a whole other story.”

Zucker referred the question of closing the pop-up ads to NBC's new Pop-up Interactive Ad Sales President Jack Smith who works out of New Delhi, India and previously worked making socks for Old Navy. Smith, born Pradesh Chandrashekhar, says the process of closing the pop-up ads is simple.

“It’s all about being interactive these days,” says Smith. “Since it’s not a computer and people can’t click away the ads with a mouse, we’ve set up a telephone number. It’s simple, each pop-up ad has a 16-digit number. For instance, the pop-up ad for Netflix has the identifying number 5478126945748596. Simply call the 1-900 number, which will cost about 99 cents per call, and listen to the menu options since they change routinely. When you hear the option for ‘close the ad,’ simply answer the questions in the brief survey and then enter your zip code. After that is complete, you can enter the 16 digit identifying number. The pop-up ad will be closed in that viewing section only if more than 70 percent of viewers from that zip code wish to do so. It’s easy.”
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Media/Information Literacy Questions

1.  Who produced the message? (in this case, who is the author of the web page "news" article?)

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(if there is no author visible on the page, consider where else on the page you might find the author)

2. What is the purpose of the message? (in this case, why was this article produced; what is its objective?

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3. What techniques does the author use to make you think the article is genuine?
a.______________________________
b.______________________________
c.______________________________

4. Using GOOGLE's search engine, verify these names referenced in the article.
Determine which ones are real and which ones are not real:

a. NBC Universal Television Group president Jeff Zucker
b. Nathan Larson, the head of People for Quality Television (PQT)
c. NBC's Pop-up Interactive Ad Sales President Jack Smith

5. What do you already know about "pop up" ads?
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6. What information is not contained in the article? (Where might you go to locate it?)
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7. What conclusions can you make regarding this "news article" following your research and answers to the above questions?
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