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Pre-episode advert/trailer

Just noticed this today (never seen it before in 8 months of viewing) - after selecting an episode of something in the watchlist, a 15 second pre-episode NOW TV advert/trailer for some other TV show played first then it began playing the selected episode.

 

I quite liked having no adverts and trailers on NOW TV Entertainment!

 

Is this the future then for NOW TV Entertainment?

146 REPLIES 146
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi all,

 

On a thread about endlessly repeating adverts, I don't want to spend much time repeating myself (from here), but I just wanted to add my voice to your call to remove the pre-episode trailers. I found the uncancellable adverts so loud, offensive, increasingly-prevalent, and repetative that I cancelled my subscription. (Result for NowTV: advertising for what I was already paying for caused me to stop paying.) I'll be back if they remove them, so I hope you are successful in persuading them to stop this counterproductive rubbish.

 

Thanks,

Tim.

Jason-C
Community Administrator

Hi @Anonymous User@Anonymous User@dr_necessitor@Anonymous User@Anonymous User

 

I've also responded in the other thread, if you want to take a look there.

 

To note here, it is early days for this feature, and we'll be changing things based on feedback and usage. Your voices in this are important, so please let us know if there are any other amendments you think should be made.

 

Thanks,

Jason

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Jason-C wrote:

Hi @Anonymous User@Anonymous User@dr_necessitor@Anonymous User@Anonymous User

 

I've also responded in the other thread, if you want to take a look there.

 

To note here, it is early days for this feature, and we'll be changing things based on feedback and usage. Your voices in this are important, so please let us know if there are any other amendments you think should be made.

 

Thanks,

Jason


Being constructive:

 

1. Make the 'feature' optional - allow subscribers to turn off a global setting so they can choose not to see trailers on anything. Perhaps add a prominent 'Trailers' section in a menu somewhere so subscribers can choose to look by themselves.

 

2. In any case prevent trailers appearing in sequential episode viewing - surely no-one believes that subscribers would want to endure a (repeated) trailer when moving from one episode to another?

 

3. Provide a 'skip' button in the first second. And don't force subscribers to try to fast forward with the remote - it's too fiddly.

 

4. Do not use trailers that are so loud and intrusive - trailers are usually used to gain attention between movies in a cinema, or between other ads, so they are very loud and dramatic. This is a totally inappropriate genre to force on paid-for subscribers at home.

 

But most of all - please stop the whole thing (and while you're at it, the in-programme station idents as well).

 

Best,

 

Simon.

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Jason-C wrote:

Hi @maxwells_daemon@Stevo99@dr_necessitor@ClockEnd@pethead65

 

I've also responded in the other thread, if you want to take a look there.

 

To note here, it is early days for this feature, and we'll be changing things based on feedback and usage. Your voices in this are important, so please let us know if there are any other amendments you think should be made.

 

Thanks,

Jason



Hi Jason, long time no speak.

Just wondering how this deeply unpopular 'feature' has been modified in the light of your comment above from last year? I note that there is still a steady drip of complaints so not at all is my guess.

Also, I recall you said they should/would/could be skippable - any progress on that?   No, thought not.

Any news at all please?


 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Just wanted to put my gripe across as well..

I noticed these pop ups about three weeks ago when trying to catch up on a boxed set before it was removed.  Every time I pressed play for an episode I was preseted with a trailer promoting something NowTV.

 

Couldn't get rid. jumping back to menu and starting again brought up another trailer!  had no option but to watch it.

 

Spent last 3 weeks with chat support who denied these trailers exist.  asked me to reset my nowtv boxes all to no avail.

 

They said my problem is unique and has been referred to a technical support team who will respond 24/48 hours that was two weeks ago.

 

Tried again today and was told sorry they know about my issue and again will be responded to within 24/48 hours.

 

Having found this forum thread today I now know there will be no solution as it's obvious these are trailers clearly put there by NowTv "for my enjoyment"

 

Well I have movie and entertainment passes not yet activated covering serveral months which I don't think I will be using unless Sky stop these annoying popups soon. and to allow customer service to give the runaround to paying customers complaining about these annoying popups is a disgrace.

 

Soon off to amazon I think.... 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User wrote:

@Jason-C wrote:

Hi @Anonymous User@Anonymous User@dr_necessitor@Anonymous User@Anonymous User

 

I've also responded in the other thread, if you want to take a look there.

 

To note here, it is early days for this feature, and we'll be changing things based on feedback and usage. Your voices in this are important, so please let us know if there are any other amendments you think should be made.

 

Thanks,

Jason



Hi Jason, long time no speak.

Just wondering how this deeply unpopular 'feature' has been modified in the light of your comment above from last year? I note that there is still a steady drip of complaints so not at all is my guess.

Also, I recall you said they should/would/could be skippable - any progress on that?   No, thought not.

Any news at all please?


 


Hi Jason, just following up my request for an update with more information about my experience that I'd like to understand.

 

On July 1st I decided to re-subscribe using a 3 month pass I had left over from when I gave up NOW TV a while ago due to the intrusive unskippable trailers. I was hoping that maybe NOW TV had seen sense.

 

I was overjoyed to find that I could watch anything at all without the trailers. After two weeks of bliss, and with the price increase coming (no problem IF THERE ARE NO UNSKIPPABLE INTERRUPTIONS) I decided to buy a six month pass.

 

However yesterday (before I had applied the new pass to my account so no connection to it) disaster struck - THEY STARTED AGAIN! And they were also unskippable, and happened even between episodes of the same programme.

 

I feel totally cheated as it appears that NOW TV cynically give new or returning subscribers a couple of weeks before they bombard them with these totally unacceptable intrusions.

 

Is there really no plan to react to subscribers' huge concerns on this issue? And how can they justify not adding the trailers at the beginning of a subscription but adding them later?

 

Absolutely appalling, and I feel completely ripped off.

 

 

Jason-C
Community Administrator

Hi @Anonymous User

 

Thanks for your comments. I'll do my best to update where I can.

 

We've been slowly rolling these out to more devices and across more of our Passes. When they appear is unrelated to anyone's time of joining, and your experience where they stopped may have been a period where we'd switched them off for technical or other reasons.

 

I appreciate your frustration, and a skip button is still a potential consideration if we find they're causing people too much grief. A lot of work has gone into making the promos as seemless as possible, and we're constantly monitoring reaction to them.

 

What we've found so far is that these promotional reels have been hugely successful in helping people find new shows to watch. An older common complaint was that people had trouble knowing what content is available on our service. Changes to our homepage and editorial layout - as well as initiatives like these promos - have worked extremely well to inform people about some of the great TV we have.

 

Hope this goes some way towards explaining. I've passed your comments along to the teams. I'll be sure to post on the forums if I hear of any further changes to the system.

 

Jason

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Jason-C wrote:

Hi @Anonymous User

 

Thanks for your comments. I'll do my best to update where I can.

 

We've been slowly rolling these out to more devices and across more of our Passes. When they appear is unrelated to anyone's time of joining, and your experience where they stopped may have been a period where we'd switched them off for technical or other reasons.

 

I appreciate your frustration, and a skip button is still a potential consideration if we find they're causing people too much grief. A lot of work has gone into making the promos as seemless as possible, and we're constantly monitoring reaction to them.

 

What we've found so far is that these promotional reels have been hugely successful in helping people find new shows to watch. An older common complaint was that people had trouble knowing what content is available on our service. Changes to our homepage and editorial layout - as well as initiatives like these promos - have worked extremely well to inform people about some of the great TV we have.

 

Hope this goes some way towards explaining. I've passed your comments along to the teams. I'll be sure to post on the forums if I hear of any further changes to the system.

 

Jason


Thank you for the speedy and full response Jason. Just one follow-up question:

 

In your discussions with the development team have you heard an explanation as to why they think it is appropriate to impose these between episodes of the same programme whilst being watched sequentially?

 

It really appears to show disdain for us paying customers to deliberately break up the immersive viewing of a box set with a (usually) totally irrelevant and intrusive trailer - exactly like a forced ad break but unskippable.

Jason-C
Community Administrator

Hi @Anonymous User,

 

That's a good question! I'll see if I can get an answer for you. It could actually be a technical limitation, as I imagine the benefit for showing them repeatedly to those binge-watching a show might be smaller than usual.

 

I personally don't always get the chance to post publicly on the forum, but I try to get involved where I can. If I learn anything else off the back of any of your comments, I'll either post again myself, or pass the message along to the usual support teams so they can reply on here.

 

Thanks,

Jason

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I'm sick of these unskipable adverts ruining my enjoyment of a film. I will be cancelling my now tv and going with netflix if this is not stopped. No one likes them i think your reply about people finding new shows to watch etc is a pile of rubbish.

 

Very unhappy customer.