Commentary

The Spoiled Generation

by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer, April 3, 2013

We talk about Generation X, Millennials, and Baby Boomers, but I'm going to invent a new generation: the Spoiled. The Spoiled generation knows no age boundaries; it does not care when you were born. Whether or not you are part of the Spoiled all depends on your answer to a single yes or no question: has real-time media made you feel entitled to having all of your media needs instantly available?

This morning, I realized that I am part of the Spoiled.

It all started when I attempted to Rick Roll my brother at 8:30 in the morning. My sinister plan ready, I opened up YouTube and searched for the Rick Roll video. I clicked it myself to make sure it was the right song - as if the 61 million views didn't clue me in - and was upset to find a 30-second pre-roll advertisement (which was probably served to me in real-time) before the real deal. How was I suppose to Rick Roll my brother when the ad gave him 30 whole seconds to figure out what was going on!?

Now, that isn't an example of real-time media in our industry's typical sense, but it underlines something important, which is that real-time technology has spoiled us. I wanted my video in literal real-time, and was peeved to be delayed by 30 seconds. But members of the Spoiled generation have extended beyond those who want their favorite videos and songs in real-time. They now walk among the advertising world.

Whether or not programmatic buying and selling of inventory is done on private marketplaces or on open exchanges, it will eventually be the way most media is traded. It's like the old tagline of Pringles: "Once you pop, the fun don't stop." We have opened the can of real-time, and the fun won't stop until it's everywhere. The industry has discovered an easier and faster way to sell inventory - why wouldn't it become the standard? The hurdles of RTB will be cleared and the unconvinced will be converted. It's only a matter of time.

I was able to circumnavigate my quandary this morning by finding a clip without a pre-roll ad to successfully Rick Roll my unsuspecting brother, but the damage had been done. I am now part of the Spoiled. Are you?

real-time, rtb

4 comments about " The Spoiled Generation".

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Russell Cross from Prentke Romich, April 3, 2013 at 4:13 p.m.
Oddly enough, there was some water-cooler discussion earlier today about how the "instaneity" of the net has damaged that precursor of the Rick Roll - April Fool's Day. By one minute after midnight GMT, the jokes played by Google and YouTube had been tweeted and blogged about before half of the world had gone to bed! Furthermore, these type of "jokes" are little more than marketing opportunities rather than japes just for the fun of it. So in a sense, this new-fangled interweb instaneity has spoiled us in other ways, too.
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Davida Tretout from Go2Chic, April 3, 2013 at 4:59 p.m.

New options make us hungry for now, now, now...the price of progress! However, we are all losing the best part of any joke- the wait for a punch line. As life speeds by at the click at a button, a swipe of an image, we are morphing into a society of now-mongers. Which, is a fact- for better or for worse. Or funnier or sadder...tomato, tomahhto. You get my drift?

Pamela Rutledge from Media Psychology Research Center, April 3, 2013 at 7:15 p.m.

Great post, but 'spoiled' is a pretty value-laden (as is the 'opening the can' metaphor). It reveals an underlying assumption that waiting for things is the right way (which it was when it was the only way) and therefore morally superior to expecting things to be realtime and then being frustrated when it's not. Do you feel spoiled when the car doesn't work or the electricity goes out? Personally, I have a lot I'd like to get done and less waiting means I get to more of it--so yes, I'm disconcerted when things don't work as I expect. I like to think there are less pejorative words than spoiled to describe the psychological shifts from Internet connectivity--unless you're looking at it from a global perspective and then, yes, we were spoiled long before live streaming was born!

Pete Austin from Fresh Relevance, April 4, 2013 at 5:01 a.m.

Comedy is in the timing; this is not related to new media or society today. If the Romans had somehow introduced a law that you had to recite a 30-second proclamation before telling any joke, back when Jesus was a lad, that would have ruined the humor too.