Advertisements in Livestream Channels

[terapvp]

I am watching Livestream videos through an embedded player on my website. Ads appear at the bottom of the screen, and there is a red "X" in the upper right corner. In windows that "X" exists so users have an option to close the window. Livestream seems to be deceptively using the natural behaviors of viewers to get them to the Livestream site.

When I click the red "X", instead of closing the ad, it stops my stream from playing?! Wait a second, I didn't want my stream to stop, I wanted to close the ad so I could view the stream. Next it pops up a new window. What? I hate pop-up windows. Now I have to go into my settings and disallow Livestream from pop-ups. That new window takes me to the Livestream site.

On the one hand companies complain about how it's not fair for people to use ad blocking programs. On the other hand, good people like myself who don't use those programs are taken advantage of with these tactics which don't represent your company well.

The watermark in the right corner of the video advertises your site, and offers viewers the ability to get here in one click. The huge banner in the left corner does the same. The ads that play every 10 minutes, and the more frequent ones at the bottom of the screen generate revenue for your company. Is there REALLY a need to have the entire playback screen as one big hyperlink to your site? and to use these deceptive advertising practices?

[benhomer]

That's not expected behavior for the ad, when you click on the "x" to close an ad it should be closed and video should continue to play so this is most likely a bug. In order for us to look into this further can you provide details on the channel you were viewing when this occurred as well as the specific ad/campaign that was running when you saw this?

-Ben
Livestream Support

[terapvp]

very good to hear

I was watching the "Pawse" channel, and the ad was for a new truck. Sorry I can't remember the brand.

Now that I have viewed a few more ads, I can tell what happened. That particular ad does not have the "X" configured properly. When a viewer clicks the "X", the click passes through to the viewer as if the "X" was not there, and the results described above occur. The "X" does work correctly on other ads.

I apologize for my initial presumption that this behavior was intentional. So you have one ad for ?Ford Trucks which needs to be fixed.

[Unpwn]

I stopped using Livestream for a bit. Came back and was watching something I recorded to find that EVERY MINUTE a banner pops up. I can live with the 30 second spot running every 15, but to have to clear the screen every minute is ridiculous!
And their solution is Premium? Yeah, I wanna spend over 1000 dollars a month on a stream.

[mbaron]

Unpwn,

Could you please let me know the channel you are experiencing this behavior on and the browser you are using, as this isn't typical behavior.

Thanks,
Matt
Livestream Producer Support

[terapvp]

Hello.

I have several viewers who watch Livestream muted. Users have varied reasons for choosing to mute their video. Some are in a quiet environment, while others prefer to listen to their own music while watching.

It is a major issue that the ads ignore the mute setting and play sound. Those is a quiet environment who wish to listen without sound cannot do so without turning off their pc sounds. Those who wish to listen to music are unable to do so, because the ads have a huge amplification effect.

I would recommend:

1. all ads respect the mute setting
2. ads not to be amplified louder beyond the comfortable volumes users have set for programming.

Ads not respecting the mute setting directly leads to the immediate loss of many viewers. The amplification of ad volume is clearly very uncomfortable for all viewers. It is the natural behavior of viewers to adjust their volume to a comfortable sound level. By amplifying the volume of commercials you are, by definition, raising the volume to an uncomfortable level.

I understand having ads, and the other adjustments you have made. I am just presenting an issue with the sound on behalf of my viewers.

[mbaron]

Thank you for your feedback. I will relay this to our user experience team.

Matt
Livestream Producer Support

[terapvp]

I was watching the Pawse channel today and noticed multiple ads which do not respect the mute setting. The sound was muted, I was peacefully listening to music from my stereo, and then the sound from the Livestream commercial blasted incredibly loud. I can't begin to express what a continuing negative experience this is for my users.

I was specifically informed by multiple users that, in the US, a law was passed making it illegal for advertisers to amplify their volume over user settings for television broadcasts. I don't know if this law applies to internet broadcasts but either way, I have to recommend changing this setting immediately.

Within the Pawse channel it has been reported the following ads do not honor muting:

- Macy's / Clinique
- US Army
- Ford Explorer
- First 5 California

So far I haven't seen an ad that doesn't over-ride the mute.

This can't be hard to fix. You are the stream provider. Just have a parent setting which applies to all ads so they are unable to over-ride user sound settings. It is not hard to locate the ads which are currently violating those settings either. Just take any pc in your office, set it on a Livestream channel, mute the channel but leave the pc's sound on. When you hear sound playing take a look and see which commercial is playing.

[asmyworldturns]

Originally Posted by Polantaris

Before the frequency of advertisements on the system was manageable, but now I can't even watch my own stream and make sure it is not having any issues without an advertisement every 5 minutes. It's starting to get annoying. I understand that you guys need to make money and what not, but I can easily switch to Justin.tv and have NO advertisements, as well as a steady stream, and be able to broadcast over 500kb/s.

The drawback to that is you run the risk of having your chat room raided by idiots from 4chan & ebaumsworld (Trust me, I was on Justin TV the night it happened to me).

I say this because I'm not convinced they're doing enough to keep their chat rooms secure from that sort of thing (The only thing they have is a games bot that also has moderator capabilities & even that is outsourced from the outside world)

And what's with the advertisements jumping in when the stream is off? Sometimes I leave the webpage open, and it wakes me up in the middle of the night (Computer is in my bedroom) because an advertisement suddenly jumps up out of no where.

I believe that's specific to one browser (IE if I'm not mistaken). Nothing can be done about that

They are 100% aggravating, and there is nothing good about them. If you're going to have so many of them, at least make them 5-10 seconds, not 30 PLUS another 30 of "If you don't click this button we're going to give you a blank screen with the product we just advertised plastered on". If I'm streaming, I'm busy streaming whatever I'm doing and can't click off this thing because you guys can't pay your own services.

I totally agree, which is why I think it's time to DUMP THE VERIFICATION SYSTEM

The more streams are listed in the directory & on the homepage - THE MORE ADS ARE DISPLAYED!!!!! This translates to FEWER ADVERTISING BREAKS in the streams which ARE listed

I'll be honest, if this system is the quality you get if you were to go Premium, I feel bad for anyone who does.

I agree

Just my opinion.....

Cheers

[asmyworldturns]

Originally Posted by benhomer

We are continuing to work to optimize advertising and our aim is to make the ads as minimally invasive and as contextually relevant as possible. Adverting is the only way we can continue to offer a free service but your feedback is important and has a major role in our decision making.

Well considering it's ALMOST A YEAR since you posted this, I think it's quite obvious by now that you care more about MAKING YOUR STOCKHOLDERS RICHER than running a company whose content is USER DRIVEN

In the event you see an ad that you feel is not relevant, please send the channel name and details on the campaign (including a screen shot if possible) directly to our support team by opening a ticket in the support center so we can investigate directly.

Is that supposed to be some sort of CANNED RESPONSE Ben? You must a Hard Drive full of 'em!!!!!

Just my opinion......