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stories filed under: "simpsons"
Overhype

Overhype

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Jun 29th 2009 9:42am


Filed Under:
csi, online ads, simpsons, tv ads



Online Ad Rates Higher On Certain TV Shows Than TV Ad Rates

from the go-simpsons dept

We were just being told by a supposedly respectable media analyst that things like Hulu were anti-American, because it gave away content for "free" and could potentially bring down the entire media business. Yet, it appears that media businesses are learning how to monetize that online content quite well. Bloomberg notes that for shows like The Simpsons and CSI, online ad rates are actually higher than TV ad rates. There are good reasons for this, including the fact that advertisers recognize viewers of shows online are more committed to the shows -- in that they actively chose to seek out and watch that show, as opposed to just having the TV on in the living room while doing something else. Also, people are more willing to watch those ads, in part because they're shorter and they don't have to watch as many to get to the content they want. Now, it is true that the number of viewers still represents a substantial difference and that media companies rely heavily on carriage fees from cable companies and the like. But the idea that ads can't support TV shows online doesn't seem to be based on anything in reality.

11 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Aug 17th 2007 10:55am


Filed Under:
cameraphone, copyright, piracy, simpsons



Man Charged With Uploading Simpsons Movie He Filmed With His Mobile Phone

from the and-how-much-damage-did-it-do? dept

Last month, we noted that while the Simpson's Movie was widely available online to be downloaded, it appeared to do little to dampen the enthusiasm for going to the theater, as the movie did amazingly well in the theaters. However, that hasn't stopped the entertainment industry from continuing to freak out. Raymond L writes in to let us know that, down in Australia, a man has been charged with being the first person to upload a copy of the movie for downloads. The entertainment industry makes it sound like this was a huge deal, but neglects to mention the commercial success of the movie, which suggests there weren't many people who used the downloaded version as a substitute for the real thing. Also, the article says that the man used a cameraphone to record the movie, which (if true, it seems hard to believe that he had enough storage to record the whole thing) has to make you wonder about the quality of the movie anyway. So, we appear to have a case where a guy filmed a very bad version of the movie and put it online -- which probably didn't make many people stay away (and, in fact, may have encouraged many people to go to the theater). But, of course, the entertainment industry doesn't want to hear any of that. They just want the guy in court.

64 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Too Much Free Time

Too Much Free Time

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Aug 3rd 2007 3:35pm


Filed Under:
china, homer, simpsons



Chinese Newspaper Uses Homer Simpson 'X-Ray' To Illustrate Article On Multiple Sclerosis Discovery

from the whooops dept

You may remember back in 2002, when the Beijing Evening News accidentally believed a story from The Onion and wrote up a whole article (apparently without a single fact check) about how Congress was threatening to move away from Washington DC unless they were given a new capitol building with a retractable dome. For a while, the paper denied that it had simply copied the story and not done any fact checking, until it realized that it was too difficult to deny. Then it issued a hilarious non-apology, basically blaming The Onion for purposely tricking the reporters in an effort to make money ("Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of making money. This is what the Onion does... According to congressional workers, the Onion is a publication that never ceases making up false reports."). It appears that there's still some sloppy reporting going on over in China. The English-language Xinhuanet has a story up about the discovery of two genes that may lead to multiple sclerosis. However, the image they used (which they've since taken down) to illustrate this finding happens to be an amusing drawing of an "x-ray" of beloved cartoon character Homer Simpson's head. Now, obviously, there have been a ton of promotional tie-ins with the new Simpson Movie, but somehow we doubt this was done on purpose. We can't wait to see if the news agency figures out a way to blame this one on the Simpsons as well.

17 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Overhype

Overhype

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Jul 31st 2007 5:19pm


Filed Under:
movies, piracy, simpsons

Companies:
mpaa



Once Again, Online Availability Doesn't Dampen Box Office For Simpsons Movie

from the ah,-that-again dept

For years, people have been pointing out that the MPAA's fears over movie downloading are overblown. After all, the experience of watching a movie that you download is quite different from actually going to the theaters and enjoying a social night out. Yet, the folks in the movie industry continue to misunderstand this simple fact. They insist that movie piracy is destroying the business at the same time that they continually make the movie going experience worse, not better. However, the point is driven home week after week when top movies continue to do amazingly well at the box office, despite being available online. We noticed this years ago when the latest installment of Star Wars did quite well despite tons of downloads. More recently, despite entertainment industry worries that the film Sicko was available prior to release, that film also succeeded at the box office. The latest is The Simpsons' Movie, where unauthorized downloading was such a worry that the opening sequence features Bart's famous chalkboard punishment saying "I Will Not Download This Movie Illegally." Yet, not surprisingly, the movie was both widely available and widely downloaded this past weekend... and did amazingly well at the box office. So, at what point will those in the movie industry finally admit that unauthorized downloads aren't the problem they want them to be?

17 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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