Our job is to make the best of an imperfect world. We'll try to keep the hassles to a minimum.
I certainly expected as much. Funny how much of a conflict on this there is between new and old media. The goal of most "new media" companies (Rev3 for example) is to get their content into the user's hands in as many formats as possible, in the least restrictive way possible, as quickly as possible. The more formats, less restrictions, and more quickly you get the content out there means you have the highest possible number of users which means you get the most possible ad revenue.
On the flipside, most "old media" companies seem obsessed with just the opposite. They want to control every aspect of the use, delivery, and consumption of "their" content. The idea that a user could, without their permission (and more importantly, without paying for it) send a clip out of a show to one of their friends or relatives terrifies them. Want to use it on your iPod or Xbox instead of your DVD player? Well, we can sell you that privilege for the low, low price of...
The "new media" companies, by-and-large, understand that the more hands you get the content into, the better. Sure... Some users
could take the time to strip out all those ads and repost ad-free versions to certain torrent websites, but who would bother? I mean, if you can just download the files directly from Rev3 yourself in whatever format happens to work for you and your devices, in high-quality (often HD anymore)... By the time you got the editing and re-encoding done, you could have just watched it in pristine HD quality with all the ads 10 times over! Want to send it to your friend or relative? Please do! We'd love more exposure! The more people who watch, the better!
Plus, most of the new media companies are doing much more than the classic "ad" anyhow... It is intertwined with the content. A perfect example is Leo Laporte's TWiT show. If you've never listened to it before, he does a segment every week that lasts 15 minutes or so (out of the 1.5 hr podcast) that is effectively an "ad" for Audible. Audible is one of their sponsors, which he makes abundantly clear, but his segment isn't just a "Audible is cool" ad. Instead, he picks out 2-3 audiobooks per week out of the Audible collection (mostly things he's been listening to himself) and does reviews and discusses them with his guests. Often the guests get in on the act too and start talking about great books they've gotten from Audible (and they're not even getting paid for it). It is an ad, clearly, but it is also valuable content in the show. And it is somewhat "intertwined" with the other content, so it's difficult (and even undesirable) to "TiVO-skip" past it.
It's quite effective. I listen to TWiT weekly, and despite the fact that I'm a "true-believer, anti-DRM, crusader" I am
strongly tempted to sign up for an Audible account. If only they offered DRM-free MP3s, I would immediately take the plunge. I just might do it anyway... Were it not for the Audible section of the weekly TWiT I listen to, I probably certainly wouldn't even consider it. As it is, I'm reminded weekly of 3-4 books that I'd love to take the time to read/listen to, if only I had an Audible account (and it helps that MC works well with Audible, BTW). Eventually, I'll probably take the plunge (though I really hope they back off their stupid DRM requirements sometime soon -- there are some good signs coming out of the industry).
So many of the "old media" companies just don't "get it". Why in god's name is ABC selling/giving away commercial-free copies of LOST online? Why don't they simultaneously release it online, ad-supported and in HD, and appeal to the widest possible audience? Because some people with entirely too much time on their hands are going to strip out the ads and torrent them? They do that anyway, and I end up watching them half the time so that I can watch it in HD when I want. If I could just subscribe to a LOST HD Video Podcast, I would, and I would probably actually watch the ads (especially if they got clever and put the little "pop-up" extras running along the bottom of the feed during the ads). It is just absurd. How much ad revenue are they losing by being obstinate?