September 24, 2007
TV Screens Get More Cluttered, mimicking the computer
Though some TV viewers complain, promotional content on what the industry calls the “lower third” of the television screen is “the way of the world these days". From The New York Times.
"Viewers say that snipes and bugs are degrading their experience of watching television. Even some performers seem to resent the assaults on their work’s integrity. At last week’s Emmy Awards, the comedian Lewis Black delivered a blow against screen clutter, yelling, “We don’t care about the next show. We’re watching this show.”
For better or worse, viewers say, the additions are making the experience of watching television more closely mirror the feeling of using a computer.
At the end of “Ugly Betty,” for instance, a shopping icon could direct viewers to places where they could buy Betty’s shoes, or an iTunes icon could invite them to that site to buy episodes of the show.
The point, said Marla Provencio, an ABC executive vice president of marketing, is “to accommodate viewers’ multimedia, multichannel habits and still lead them back to ABC.”
Network executives say that the trend toward busy screens is an attempt to cater to the tastes and habits of younger viewers, who reflexively toggle among screens, online and on cellphones."
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/tv/archives/2007/09/017404.htm