When it comes to watching movies and TV online, Netflix and Hulu are the famous barons of on-demand content, with Amazon Instant and iTunes in the mix. Unless you’re paying for a monthly subscription or renting movies with a credit card, it’s almost impossible to watch anything without being interrupted by an ad. And let’s face it: commercials are a drag, but Lexington-based HitBliss is trying to change that sentiment—by giving cash to viewers who watch and interact with commercials.
Co-founder Sharon Peyer said people like advertising if it’s relevant.
“Today anyone can advertise in a TV show and a lot of people feel like they are getting bombarded with ads at the wrong time,” Peyer said. “What we’re doing is saying hey, look, make it all opt-in for the user. Let them pick the ads they want to watch and the advertiser pays only in proportion to how much of their ad gets watched.” She said.
Here’s how it works—first, you create a profile in the HitBliss Earn app. Then you enter info about yourself, like age and gender. Add things like your income, how many kids you have, and even your browsing history, and the more targeted ads will come your way. The app keeps your information private, serving as a matchmaker between you and the advertiser’s criteria. If you’re their target demographic, then their ad is put in your queue.
Who’s trying it out?
Aflac thinks it’s worth a shot. They are willing to pay the viewer $.25 to watch their ads. Watch seven minutes of targeted ads—and you’ve earned enough to watch a $3.99 movie for free.
But in a time when DVRs and TiVo let us record programs and fast forward through commercials, it’s easy to argue that no one wants to engage with an ad, according to streaming media expert Dan Rayburn.
“Consumers don’t like advertisements and consumers don’t want to have to interact with ads,” said Rayburn.
Rayburn is executive vice-president of StreamingMedia.com, an industry authority on trends in streaming media.
“That’s the whole reason why today there is no single video ad format. There’s pre-roll ads, post-roll ads, in-stream ads, in-page ads, overlay ads. You have content owners who are trying many different forms of online advertising formats because none of them really work very well. Consumers simply don’t like sitting through commercials,” he said.
Though Rayburn said the business model behind HitBliss is flawed and that most advertisers can’t afford to pay each viewer $.25, other big brands like Dr. Pepper and Liberty Mutual are giving HitBliss a shot. But can’t the viewer just walk away and avoid the ads? How does the app know that the viewer is actually paying attention?
At the HitBliss headquarters in Lexington, Sharon Peyer walks me through the app.
“Now, if I’m watching the ad, and I do something like, I try to ignore it by lowering the sound beyond an audible level, the ad pauses and it says “your ad has been paused because you are not listening.” Peyer said.
I tried out the HitBliss Earn app for myself, and it was unflinching in making sure that I paid attention. When I hit the mute button, the Dr. Pepper ad paused. When I tried to minimize the window, again, the ad paused. At one point during an ad, I let my mind wander, and a little smiley face popped up and asked if I was paying attention. I didn’t respond right away, and that smiley face quickly turned into an angry face, and timed out on me, saying I didn’t earn points for that commercial. On the flip side, the sooner I clicked on the smiley face, the more points I earned. My swift response time in the next few ads placed me in a higher “trust level”, which let me earn points more quickly. It started to feel like a video game.
Super Bowl Sunday every Friday night
The game-like quality of HitBliss could be the key to their success, says advertising expert John Eighmey.
“I could see families actually gathered around the screen doing this as sort of a pre-movie entertainment.
Eighmey said HitBliss could be another way to enjoy commercials like we do during the SuperBowl.
“The potential here that has something in it for the consumer, is that through this match-up process, you can bring something to them that they’re not aware of and they’re grateful to learn about. And so it’s a mutuality of benefit,” he said.
HitBliss co-founder Sharon Peyer says the HitBliss model empowers the user to take control of not only what he or she’s going to watch— but when.
“We’re not paying users to watch ads, we’re giving users the opportunity to watch ads on their own schedule,” she said.
HitBliss just launched their mobile app for Android phones, and plan to roll out their iPhone app in a couple weeks, giving the user even more control to watch these ads in their own time, like, while waiting for the bus or on the train ride home.
“Advertisers have to pay to reach their consumers and what we’re doing is saying to consumers, instead of having the advertiser buy a show that you happen to be tuned into, let the advertiser reward you with the power to buy your own show,” Peyer said.
Move over, PayPal
While HitBliss Earn could be the answer to creating a harmonious—or blissful, relationship between the advertiser and viewer, Peyer says their plans go beyond the small screen.
“The other thing we’re looking to do is as we grow, earned payment could function just like PayPal for micropayments. So there is no reason why you couldn’t go to Amazon, or iTunes or even Netflix and instead of using your credit card to buy your TV show or music or your Netflix monthly subscription, just apply your earned payment. There could be a little button there that says, “apply my earned cash”, and that’s kind of where we are headed over the long run,” she said.
A future where we pay for things, not with cash or plastic but by watching commercials? Something to think about next time you hit the mute button.
