Having recently acquired a personal video recorder, I find myself using the time-shift facility when watching commercial TV.
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I start watching a programme around 15 minutes after it has commenced broadcasting - by doing this, I am able to fast forward through the adverts. Am I breaking my "contract" with the broadcaster by not watching its adverts, and do I miss out on some products that might be of value to me?
Paul, Dorset
Dear Paul,
If everybody did as you do, advertisers would give up, and broadcasters would have to find a new source of income. That need not concern you, however. If you time-shift and others do not, no harm is done. And if they all time-shift, you'd be a fool to do otherwise, wouldn't you?
The more pertinent question is whether these adverts are worth your time. If you earn £40,000 a year, then you make £5 in the time it takes you to watch 15 minutes of advertising. This is a rough guide to the opportunity cost of your time.
If the adverts are enjoyable or informative, perhaps that is a price worth paying, but it seems unlikely. While an advertisement in the Financial Times might alert you to a sophisticated product, mainstream television adverts are more likely to remind you that actors can be paid to hold fizzy drinks, or that when a car is filmed from a helicopter and driven by a stuntman along a remote mountain road, it looks rather cool.
I recommend, then, that you watch a few advertising breaks while keeping a running tally: the cost of time spent watching adverts versus your estimate of the benefits thus derived. I suspect you will find that time shifted is time saved.