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Author Topic: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?  (Read 5232 times)

aaron sica

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BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« on: June 18, 2020, 07:45:02 AM »
Instead of infomercials this morning:
P+ at 6
LMAD at 6:30
Supermarket Sweep at 7
CS (Perry) at 7:30.

These shows are not listed on their schedule.

Bryce L.

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2020, 07:50:50 AM »
How are you seeing these? Just watched via NKT.tv and the stream on the site, and there's certainly infomercials on both of those as I'm typing this.

gamed121683

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2020, 07:55:45 AM »
How are you seeing these? Just watched via NKT.tv and the stream on the site, and there's certainly infomercials on both of those as I'm typing this.

Just beat me to the punch, Bryce! It's 7:53AM EST as I type this and on BUZZR's streaming feed on their website, I saw a LifeAlert informercial. However, their Pluto TV channel is showing a 1978 rerun of Card Sharks. Hmmmm...

aaron sica

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2020, 09:18:57 AM »
How are you seeing these? Just watched via NKT.tv and the stream on the site, and there's certainly infomercials on both of those as I'm typing this.

I checked my IPTV service and saw it. I need to give NKT new billing info so it’s off there for now.

Blanquepage

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2020, 01:19:35 PM »
That's the primetime block, perhaps a repeat of last night's? Did you catch who the celebs were on Password Plus?

snowpeck

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #5 on: June 18, 2020, 01:33:22 PM »
Perhaps the infomercials aren't allowed on Pluto?
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chargeradiocom

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2020, 10:37:25 PM »
Good call to run this in place of the infomercials, for a number of reasons. While I’d rather it be something not already on the schedule, at least it keeps the regular format for the early risers who might stumble across the channel.

They have run the infomercials on Pluto in the past, so it’s probably not a thing where they aren’t allowed (though there could have been a change in policy). But I’ve wondered if Pluto would eventually lean on BUZZR to at least run game shows on their feed during the off-hours, with how they promote BUZZR as 24/7 Game Shows. Funny thing is, I’ve seen the Pluto program guide say “24/7 Game Shows” when it was actually running infomercials or E/I shows.

Any word on whether they’re also doing this on STIRR, Sling, etc.?

On a side note, I didn’t even realize NKT.tv was still around. I figured they’d shut down after the Omniverse fiasco. I see it looks like their lineup was gutted & it’s a bunch of lower-tier channels now.

chargeradiocom

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2020, 11:25:12 AM »
So, I’ve been keeping an eye on this the last few mornings. Pluto, Sling, and Roku Channel all appear to be playing game shows during infomercial hours now. STIRR is still playing informercials, at least for now. (I have neither a Samsung smart TV nor a Fire device, so if someone else wants to reply with whether Samsung TV Plus or IMDBtv are following suit, that would be great.)

Pluto, Sling & Roku Channel are all playing the same episodes, so it seems to be a single feed that streaming providers can pick up. As of right now, only the Roku Channel program guide tells which shows are playing. Sling still lists paid programming, and Pluto still lists it as “24/7 Game Shows.”

It appears that they’re rerunning the first couple hours of prime time from the night before. On Saturday & Sunday when infomercial hours are extended, they also run the 3rd hour, then loop back to the first hour. Oddly, all the streaming services are still running the E/I programming for now. But since BUZZR has cut back on E/I, at least it’s only a half-hour break in format.

As I said above, it would be nice if they were ran something that wasn’t as common during the infomercial hours, but I’m not complaining. I still think it’s a smart move to keep viewers engaged during those hours, & catch the early risers who might stumble across the channel.

tvmitch

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2020, 03:45:23 PM »
I imagine this whole thing could be as simple as: Buzzr and the streaming services make money from the regular ~2 minute ad breaks, where sponsored ads can be inserted. The infomercial companies aren't paying extra for over-the-top/streaming audience reach, and when the infomercials are run on the streaming platforms, there aren't any ad breaks available.

So, why not plug those holes with some more opportunities to generate revenue?
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Bryce L.

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #9 on: July 24, 2020, 06:04:44 AM »
Apologies for the bump, but on the "new" stream (https://buzzrota-web.amagi.tv/playlist.m3u8) they do this (cover up the infomercials) as well.

chargeradiocom

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #10 on: July 24, 2020, 01:32:24 PM »
Since this got bumped anyway... STIRR has also picked up the new infomercial-free feed, as has the BUZZR website. Still, none of them have updated their program guides for the infomercial hours as far as I can tell, except for Roku Channel.

One interesting thing is that this new feed gives BUZZR a chance to run alternate programming on their online feed. Aside from the infomercial hours, they’ve already done this once, with the Dawson Feud marathon on July 12. This was promoted on social media as part of Pluto’s “31 Marathons in 31 Days” stunt this month (as far as I’m aware it was never promoted on-air), but the marathon also ran on Sling, STIRR, etc. It will be interesting to see if they use this to experiment with other online-only programs. (Perhaps it will be a way to backdoor Barker TPIR onto BUZZR?)

On a side note... Game Show Central is also scheduled to be part of Pluto’s “31 Marathons in 31 Days,” with International Day of Friendship on July 30. I haven’t seen a schedule, but presumably Friend or Foe will be a big part of that day’s programming.

JakeT

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2020, 08:16:26 PM »
The stream on the Samsung TV Plus app on their Smart TVs still has the informercials...we had the Life Alert this morning as well...

JakeT

TimK2003

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Re: BUZZR cutting down on infomercials?
« Reply #12 on: July 25, 2020, 09:13:55 PM »
Glad that the Roku Channel has picked up Buzzr as one of their 'live' channels.  The random pregnant pauses at the top and bottom of the hour on PlutoTV's feed has been annoying and I have not been able to get STIRR to work right in their live TV grid on either of my TVs since an app upgrade several months back (One is a RokuTV and the other a Roku stick)

Plus the RokuTV feed (for now) has a lot less annoying commercials per break than the STIRR/PlutoTV streams.