said by THZNDUP:... An inserted cue should be much more of a positive indicator that an ad slot may be filled than any predictive method including 'video fingerprinting'. ...
 
On that we agree.
said by THZNDUP:The 'anticipate' part I was guessing at would be to get any background work done prior to getting the cue to actually start the insert. Assuming a hybrid system at this point, it would predict a slot is about to be opened up, look up the program history, demographics, select the ad and get it buffered awaiting a start cue. Which is also somewhat counterintuative as the 'pre-roll' cue would also do better as the heads up.
Makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.
said by THZNDUP:Since I haven't caught any of the ads you have described here, they may very well be local to your region/group/system. Which channel/channels are the worst offenders?
You are lucky that you've not seen the ads I see here. HD video of zits on peoples' faces, and recently chests and backs, along with animation of the cross-sectional view of the pus being removed from zits. The Proactiv commercials are totally gross.
I can't find rhyme nor reason for the placement of the ads. They seem to be on most of the non-broadcast channels on cable, and seem to appear multiple times per hour. Sometimes there is a second or two of another ad at the beginning, then that ad gets overlaid with the gross proActiv ad.
said by THZNDUP:At any rate, I'm sorry that Guthy-Renker and Comcast feels they may sell more of their product there than here...........
I suspect you may be more thankful than sorry.
Thanks for the good discussion.