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Apple Patent Application Reveals Flexible Integration of Advertising Viewing in Video Files

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Patently Apple points to an interesting Apple patent application published yesterday describing methods of incorporating commercials into video content such that viewing of the commercials interspersed throughout the video presentation would be required in order to "unlock" portions of the content. The methods would allow users to freely navigate within a video presentation such as a television show while still requiring them to view commercials.

For example, a downloaded television episode may have multiple commercial breaks encoded into the file, and should a user attempt to navigate to a "locked" portion of the episode, they could be redirected to a commercial that, after viewing, would allow the user to "unlock" the desired content for viewing. Such implementations could allow for such options as one-time unlocking or limited-time unlocking after which the user would have to view commercial content again in order to access the locked segment.
As ad breaks are viewed, a segment of the episode associated with that ad break becomes an unlocked segment 310. The unlocked segment can remain unlocked indefinitely, can remain unlocked for a fixed, limited duration, or can remain unlocked for an unknown, but limited duration, such as until the viewer has finished viewing the entire episode.
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Alternatively, the user's desired content could play immediately, but content from the required "unlocking" ad break could be displayed back-to-back with the following ad break at the next opportunity. A third option could be that the user's navigation request would simply be denied until they had reached the appropriate ad break to unlock the segment.

The system also offers the availability of ad "bundles" which can either be included with the downloaded content or offered separately, allowing for certain "bundles" of ads to expire at the end of a campaign and be replaced by new advertising.

Amid growing video downloads from the iTunes Store and reports of Apple developing a subscription-based package of television shows, it is clear that the company is thinking about ways of moving television content to its portable devices while providing methods for content providers to receive sustainable revenue streams. Whether that comes from per-download or subscription fees from users, advertising dollars, or some combination of those sources remains to be seen.

Article Link: Apple Patent Application Reveals Flexible Integration of Advertising Viewing in Video Files
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/05/apple-patent-application-reveals-flexible-integration-of-advertising-viewing-in-video-files/
Pardon me when I throw up. Proprietary, commercial software and the Internet are becoming worse than TV.
 
If I wanted a viewing experience such as this, I'd watch stuff on Hulu.
 
I hope people can still episodes that don't have the commercial breaks. If iTunes gets a subscription model instead of (or along with) the paid episodes, I wouldn't mind this too much.

My only suggestion if Apple does this: put the commercial breaks in where the actual commercial breaks are! I don't want to be in the middle of a big action scene or even when a character is mid-sentence & it cuts to commercial. REALLY annoying when it does that.
 
Ew. If it does happen, each commercial needs to be different.

There is nothing more that I hate than seeing and hearing ads is seeing and hearing the same ad over and over and over and over and over again.

I mute it and do something else, thus making the ads useless and me annoyed at the product they are selling, making me less likely to buy it.
 
What bugs me about these sort of implementations - and you can find them on Hulu, for example - is that if you want to see a particular scene in a movie, you have to play the whole thing up to that scene.

For example, suppose you get into a discussion about a scene in a movie, and want to pull just that scene up. You can't. Annoying.

Once again, those who pirate have a better experience (in this example, assuming the person previously downloaded it).
 
ThunderSkunk said:
Sooo... just like Hulu already does it.
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The patent office doesn't check (much for prior art... so Apple's patent will have to be contested in order for this to be thrown out.

I can see now - Apple mobile platform - the advertising platform.

Ugggh.
 
This would only make sense if it were a currently Free model like Hulu, otherwise does Apple intend for the user to pay a subscription fee and still have to watch commercials, if so, it damn well better be a very cheap fee. Anything major and I would want non interrupted shows. Otherwise most are still going to opt for non legal methods.
 
spillproof said:
Ew. If it does happen, each commercial needs to be different.

There is nothing more that I hate than seeing and hearing ads is seeing and hearing the same ad over and over and over and over and over again.

I mute it and do something else, thus making the ads useless and me annoyed at the product they are selling, making me less likely to buy it.
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Agreed! Try watching a few videos at cnn.com. The same ad, over and over, before each video. It's annoying.

It also enables stations to get around the caps on ads, it seems. That is, normally there are limits on how many ads there can be per, say, 30 minutes. Having to watch the same thirty second ad before every 2 minute video is annoying as hell. Instead of ad blockers, we need ad strippers, to just strip it away.
 
Umm...

Frankly, I think this could be a good thing, if done properly ... BUT patentable? Not convinced it should be at all, unless you want to get down to some real technical details of a very specific implementation mechanism.

I rather like the idea that I could purchase a video or movie inexpensively, in exchange for the "catch" that it contains a few ads that it requires I view ONCE before they disappear from the content permanently. (I know that's only ONE facet of what Apple suggests is doable in this patent application, but that's the version I think would be most popular with people -- and would feel the most innovative.)
 
One thing I already don't like about iTunes TV shows & movies is how they sometimes cut whole or parts of scenes out of it. Example: in the movie Star Trek IV, they totally cut out the punk on the bus scene. That's like the best scene in the whole movie!
 
I suspect this differs from Hulu in that it could apply to downloaded content.

If I could watch a few ads, I'd just rather "buy" content through iTunes for those times when I'm not connected to the internet. 1.99 versus a couple of minutes of ads? That's easy.
 
Undecided said:
What bugs me about these sort of implementations - and you can find them on Hulu, for example - is that if you want to see a particular scene in a movie, you have to play the whole thing up to that scene.
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I thought you could jump wherever you want in hulu. The only catch being if you skip past a planned advertisement, they make you watch another ad before starting back up at the point you choose.
 
Yay! Finally a great way to avoid people bypassing adverts, and keep pissing them off while all they want to do is watch that damn movie! This reminds me of that patent that Apple published with adverts popping up on your computer, not allowing you to do anything while the adverts are on.

In the future, if adverts are going to intrude like this, then I think it's better to just go back to communism or something!

YouTube has already managed to annoy us with those banner ads that pop up at the bottom of videos about online dating. I hate those. The only time I click on them is when I want to click on the tiny X in the corner, but accidentally click on the advert.
 
ThunderSkunk said:
Sooo... just like Hulu already does it.
Click to expand...

amac4me said:
If I wanted a viewing experience such as this, I'd watch stuff on Hulu.
Click to expand...

Except I want to be able to download shows for local playback on multiple devices... Hulu doesn't give me that. I would happily pay a modest fee ($5 a month?) to have access to all of the iTunes TV content WITH ads (assuming they are closer to Hulu length than broadcast TV length - say 30 seconds of ads for every 7 minutes of content MAX).

This would be SO much more convenient than DVD ripping, and much more affordable than cable/satellite or iTMS purchases.

I wonder how it would work with rewatching shows? Would you need to rewatch the ads preceding each segment every time, or would they "unlock" permanently?

Virtualball said:
**** advertisements.
But that is fersure Charlie from Lost in that pic :)
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That's funny; I assume Claire is the woman in the pic, too. :p Good eye.
 
Thanks Apple for thinking of innovative new ways of bringing us what we don't want.
 
I would love to have the choice of going on my Apple TV and picking either a free-with-ads version as described here, a $1 for 1 day with no ads version, or a $2 to keep it with no ads version.

I can safely say I would take advantage of all 3 of those options, based on which show it is.

If they did this and if just a few more shows were added to iTunes I would probably be able to cancel my cable subscription and throw away my DVR.

I'd love to live in that world. I challenge the dislikers to explain why you would hate this system. Please explain it to me.
 
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