Pay to skip: Who is watching the ads?
We’re facing an advertising paradox; short video dominates content more than ever, but commercial advertising is haunted by the skip button. But, says Russell Owen, Founder of commercial and feature film production company Kindred Pictures, all is not lost.
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When you’re asked to make a five-second ad, and to squeeze an impossible amount into those five seconds, it hurts my soul as a filmmaker, but I get it.
What’s makes it worse, though, is that people aren't watching the five second ad. They're watching the count down to the skip button. So, how do filmmakers make something short, compelling and entertaining that will keep viewers engaged?
Increasingly the audience is paying to skip ads.
We’ve long been at a crossroads in advertising, sat on red. Short-form video continues to reign supreme, which is great, but increasingly the audience is paying to skip ads (Netflix’s recent report showed the majority of users now pay to avoid them). So, where does that leave brands, agencies and commercial filmmakers?
Above: Advertising is at a crossroads when it comes to engaging an audience.
Advertising isn’t dead, it’s just different
I love making commercials, but wow, it’s changed – both where they show up and what they look like.
There’s the rapid decay of broadcast and the explosive growth of streamers - TV ad spots at the Super Bowl still go for eye-watering sums but, day-to-day, social media channels are leading the way, with Instagram reporting a potential ad reach of nearly two-billion users, and $42 billion in US ad revenue this year. Audiences are also blinded through decades of over-saturation and endless choice, and attention spans are minuscule, so ads are getting increasingly shorter.
The [skip] option alone frames advertising as an irritant, something to avoid, and gives modern audiences a new ‘ick’.
It can feel a bit bleak. Then the nail in the coffin arrives: ‘Subscribe to skip the ads’. Customers are gladly paying. The option alone frames advertising as an irritant, something to avoid, and gives modern audiences a new ‘ick’. Ads, once unavoidable in traditional broadcast formats, are now avoidable thanks to streaming.
All of this tests a creative’s skill set to the limit. A short window to pass on a serious amount on information in one clean and clever swoop. Agencies and filmmakers scrambled to adjust, rather than shift. The amount of times I’m asked to reduce a narrative, brand identity and call to action all before the ‘skip’ button appears has really tested my craft. Yet, no matter how many bells and whistles we add, audiences are simply staring at the countdown to that magic skip button.
Above: Minecraft, like LEGO and Barbie before it, made the move to the big screen last year.
A box office hit… in five seconds?
People don’t want to be bombarded – they want entertainment, and, for me, that's the answer. Brands have already noticed – Arc’teryx is making documentaries, Ben & Jerry’s is making podcasts, Minecraft took over cinemas. So, take that entertainment mindset to every job, irrespective of duration or size of screen.
After a decade making commercials, I headed back to making movies, and what I was reminded of was simple; I wasn’t selling a product, I was making one. When you approach the advert like the product itself, the mind set shifts completely and forces you to make something people want. At its root, entertainment is storytelling, and if you find that hook and that strong narrative, you’ll have interest, engagement, awareness. The three Es; entertainment, empathy and ease, are a good checklist: tell your story with pizazz, make it relatable, and then make it easy to access.
At its root, entertainment is storytelling, and if you find that hook and that strong narrative, you’ll have interest, engagement, awareness.
Stories need to be captivating, and one rule is king – empathy. Empathy comes from the heart, and only humans, right now, can create this. While AI can assist, give us stats, suggestions, animate a picture and polish a deck, it can’t create original content that grabs us. It’s just not designed for that.
We’re already savvy to influencer messaging and AI tricks, we question everything we see on our feeds. Originality, therefore, needs to be paired with realness. An impactful documentary, a mind opening tutorial, or a relatable story are the evergreen moments that sit with people, and bring people back to a brand over time.
Credits
powered byAbove: Owen's spot for American Express put entertainment and interest above direct sales calls.
One of the most successful ads I ever created was for American Express. It didn’t sell you a credit card (I fought to remove that sales call to action), but instead, for 90 seconds, a very famous chef shared advice. One piece being "if you have a vegetable just tell yourself ‘I’ve just paid $100 for this’, and that way you’ll cook it differently". That ad went viral without even mentioning a product, and American Express was associated with some fascinating insights and a way of life.
The screens are palm-sized and attention spans are slim, but humans still want joy.
So, in today’s paradox, where the viewers and brands want short-form content yet the option to skip is first choice, it’s easy to question the value of traditional commercial advertising. The key is to grow and flex with the changes. Yes, the screens are palm-sized and attention spans are slim, but humans still want joy. Never forget the fundamental rules of filmmaking: entertain the viewer.
Associating a brand with something audiences are actually interested in will completely turn that brand’s future around.
