Are Ads Dead?

From the LA Times today.

The Advertising Model Is Dying: Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein has put his comic touch to the topic of advertising, which he posits is no longer a viable enterprise. How *can* it be? When HBO, which books no ads, is the most profitable network, something has gone kerplooey. When DVRs make it possible to skip TV commercials altogether, what’s the point of advertising on the medium? The networks, Stein notes, are busy making deals to deliver ad-free programming to various portable video devices. Little suprise, then, that the “advertising model is dying,” according to writer Stein. “At this rate, we’ll soon have to directly pay the real cost for most of our high-quality media.” It’s a curious POV, but that’s Stein’s style, to be both provocative and entertaining. Here, he hasn’t made a convincing case, but at least he poses a few meaningful questions.