Marc Andreessen has a blog post called “ABC thinks you’re an idiot.” What this post is about specifically is ABC’s launch of on demand programming as a way to get people to stop using DVR (digital video recorders, like TiVo.) The ABC people say, if we give you all of our shows on demand, then you want need the DVR. And on their on demand programming, you can’t skip the commercials.

Quoting Bill Carter from the NY Times

“This does counter the DVR,” said Anne Sweeney, the president of the Disney-ABC television group. “You don’t need TiVo if you have fast-forward-disabled video on demand…”

Ray Cole, president of Citadel Communications, which owns three local ABC stations, who is also the chairman of the board of affiliated ABC stations, was even more direct about the goal of the new service.

“As network and affiliates, we both have an interest in slowing down the explosive growth of DVRs,” Mr. Cole said. “This is about combating DVRs. As we developed this at every stage, there was an agreement that however we put this together, disabling the fast-forward function was key.”

Ha. ABC thinks we’re idiots. And this is the bigger point I want to make. Do you, in your work, project your goals onto your audience in unrealistic ways. ABC’s efforts will fail. It is a joke really. They want to believe so badly that they can stop the world from changing that they don’t tell themselves the truth. The truth at ABC is that people will watch what they want when they want, period. You can’t make them do anything. You better come up with other revenue sources, product placements, in-programming sponsorships, and the like, because the world you knew is gone.

When you think about your work and your goals and you think about the changes the internet has brought, are you telling yourself the truth?