My Trails

Over the last few weeks I have watched a lot of OTA tv. Some things I have recorded but mostly I just surf the channels looking for something interesting.  OTA tv is filled with channels of old sitcoms, old movies, old westerns, news, public broadcasts, cop shows, and shopping. I usually watch the evening network news, some local news, and some of the Sunday morning news shows. Other than that it is a mixture of anything I find entertaining. Sometimes I have the tv on in the background to break the silence and I’m not really paying much attention at all.  I do have online access to just about any show I want, but they all use my data so I try to limit them as much as possible. 

As it became clear how exasperating and how much of our time was exposed to commercials, I figured I might as well make a game of it. As I watched the endless assault of marketing, I realized that the commercial breaks are flooded with several categories of ads.  I was pretty sure some ads were way more prevalent than others so I started tabulating type and quantity just to see which products were pushed the most. 

This study of commercials is far from scientific as I realize the target for OTA tv may be quite different than cable or satellite, and that even during different shows there would be a different audience to exploit. During the day, the audience would be more retired people, and science and news programs would probably be a different target. The psychology of marketing is way above me and I don’t pretend to understand much of it. This was just a fun way to waste a little time. 

Some commercials ran longer than others and I made mental footnotes of length but did not tabulate it in any statistic. There are endless categories of products and I took some liberty in my grouping, however I didn’t stray far from the idea of the product.  

We all know that marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry, and without all the money spent on advertising, things could be a lot cheaper. And marketing isn’t just about commercials. Everything we do online or in a store is being tabulated in databases that track our every whim. Whether we like it or not our privacy is being shared and sold to everyone that wants a piece of our dollar. But I digress. 

Here are the categories in no particular order. See if you can guess who spends the most on advertising? Just comment on the top 5 you think have the highest frequency of ads in my non-scientific game.  I’ll release the results in a few days after everyone that wants to play has seen it. 

1: Cosmetics-

2: Electronics-

3: Insurance-

4: Vehicles-

5:  Detergent-

6:  Travel-

7:  Internet-

8:  Apparel-

9:  Pharmaceutical-

10: Credit Card-

11: Food-

12: Investment-

13: Appliances-

14: Charity-

15: Alcohol-

16: Attorneys-

17: Home Repair-

18: Pets-

19: Real estate-

Most are self-explanatory.  Insurance includes health, auto and home.  I grouped cars, trucks and RVs into vehicles. Food was tough and I tallied even if they advertised a food store. Alcohol can be beer, wine, and whisky. Pets are food or health products. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2021 at 12:37 pm and is filed under The Great Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.