Ads.com Launches Television Commercials Website For Consumers.

Ads.com, Inc. launched the first-ever comprehensive consumer website for accessing television commercials and related product/promotional information. The Ads.com website enables consumers to find virtually any current network commercial by brand name, product name, or by the particular television program in which the commercial ran. Once a commercial is located, consumers can play the commercial, receive detailed product information, and provide feedback to advertisers. Ads.com captures consumer interest in commercials and connects consumers with the respective advertisers, while at the same time generating unprecedented consumer response data that can help advertisers gauge the effectiveness of their ads. Ads.com also announced today a landmark agreement with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), providing a means to legitimately run commercials on the Web, and promotional agreements with both Microsoft Windows Media and ABC.com that will expose Ads.com to millions of consumers. Ads.com has also chosen to include support for the latest edition of Windows Media for all commercials on the Ads.com website, due to the popularity of the Windows Media Player.

“The history of the Web has shown that the creation of aggregation websites — in this case a single website through which consumers can access virtually any commercial and the product/promotional information that surrounds it — increases consumer interaction exponentially,” said John Atcheson, President and CEO of Ads.com. “For advertisers, Ads.com marks the beginning of a new era in which consumer interaction with ads will become a standard component of every media campaign.”

Advertisers can reap substantial benefits from Ads.com. In addition to providing exposure for their commercials and connecting advertisers directly with consumers seeking product or promotional information, Ads.com is capable of delivering unparalleled consumer response data. For example, advertisers can compare the effectiveness of their ads to other ads across the same product category or within the same television program. Advertisers can also gather important detailed information about what interests consumers, including product information, retail locations and music soundtracks, and ultimately what types of consumers — both demographically and attitudinally — are interested in a particular commercial.

Ads.com Agreement with SAG/AFTRA

Ads.com’s agreement with SAG/AFTRA runs concurrently with the 2000 Commercials Contract and allows, for the first time, the legal operation of a comprehensive commercials website for consumers.

“We believe this joint SAG/AFTRA agreement with Ads.com benefits commercial actors,” said Susan Rose, National Director, Commercials & Industrial Contracts for SAG. “It provides an immediate new income opportunity for commercial actors whose work appears on the Internet, and begins to develop a long-term market for the use of commercials on the Web.”

“This mutually beneficial Agreement emphasizes the unions’ commitment to embrace new technology and encourage advertisers to use the Internet,” said Mathis Dunn, Assistant National Executive Director for AFTRA. “Moreover, it demonstrates SAG/AFTRA willingness to support new and creative ways of working with the advertising industry, while preserving the integrity of their collective bargaining agreements and protecting the interests of their members.”

While the agreement gives advertisers the ability to have their commercials available through Ads.com, it in no way reduces their obligation to pay actors for use on the advertiser’s own site. In addition, some celebrity agreements prohibit Internet use, and Ads.com would not be able to offer commercials created under such celebrity agreements. The majority of recent celebrity contracts, however, provide for Internet use.

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