You may have noticed that the airwaves have been full of commercials for satellite and cable television services. Many of them are informational, simply talking about what services are offered. But the ones that really stand out are the ones that actually draw you in, are relatable, and make you feel something. We’ll take a look at a two of them here and see which heavy hitter—DIRECTV or Time Warner Cable—has the better commercial campaign on TV.

First up, DIRECTV Genie.

Hot on the heels of last year’s successful, but more general “Get Rid of Cable” series (watch them here), comes a new collection of commercials revolving around DIRECTV’s new Genie product, an impressive whole-home DVR device.

There are a couple of mini-campaigns circulating, each with their own spin on the Genie product. Most notable are the “Family DVR” and “Worse Than” series.

The “Family DVR” series focuses on the limitations of competing cable DVRs, specifically how those devices cannot record as many shows at once. This leads the passive-aggressive protagonist dad in the commercials to continually run into conflict with his wife and kids, who are also trying to record shows at the same time he is. The series is certainly relatable for men whose programming gets trumped by other family members’ recordings. Appropriately, the commercials air frequently during sports broadcasts.

The “Worse Than” series takes a slightly different approach to the Genie. Each of the commercials in the series focuses on a particular feature/benefit of Genie as compared to its cable counterparts. For instance, one video emphasizes the abundance of Genie’s storage space. While another mentions the ability to record 5 shows at once.

Emotion: If you’re into a little drier, darker humor—or you’re a dad or husband—then the “Family DVR” series is probably right up your alley. To the contrary, the “Worse Than” commercials are very tongue-in-cheek and imaginative, much like the popular Old Spice commercials. Though they are over the top and full of outlandish exaggeration, you’ll still find yourself laughing out loud.

Production Value: Monster trucks smashing cars, various locations, sheer volume of placement, and the appearance of the commercial queen, Gillian Vigman, means they spent a lot of money on these spots. They look great because of it.

Does it Sell? As mentioned, the “Family DVR” commercials, though crafty, may alienate some wives and mothers. Where DIRECTV is more successful in grabbing the broader audience of both men and women, is with the “Worse Than” series. Many of them have both male and female main characters that are easy to identify with. What’s more, the different ads focus on different aspects of the Genie device. This equates to more knowledge about the product reaching consumers.

Time Warner Cable – Enjoy Better

Time Warner Cable ran commercials over the past several years featuring Mike O’Malley, who many remember from the TV show Yes, Dear (even more may remember him from Nickelodeon’s Guts). New to this year is the “Enjoy Better” series, with each commercial approaching a TWC benefit a little differently.

The Walking Dead ad cleverly sells the fact that you can stream shows to any room of the house on any screen. The synopsis is as follows: A frustrated mother cleaning the home nonchalantly throws a zombie arm in the laundry basket, finds a detached finger while vacuuming the couch, and washes off some zombie entrails from a cleaver in the kitchen sink. Daryl from the Walking Dead makes an appearance, shooting an arrow through a walking corpse’s head and straight into the wall, while the mother casually says, “We just had those painted Daryl”.

The Game of Thrones ad follows a sad, lost dragon through a city as it desperately searches for its mother, Daenerys Targaryen. The dragon catches glimpses of its mother in scenes from the show as different people throughout the city watch Game of Thrones on their various devices, such as TVs, cell Phones and tablets. The ad exemplifies the fact that you can watch HBO anywhere with the HBO GO app. And yes, the dragon is ultimately reunited with its mother.

Emotion: The Walking Dead ad contains very smart, experiential humor that’ll make you smirk. If you’re a fan of the show, it is fun to imagine what it would be like if zombies were just a casual part of our lives. On the other hand, the Game of Thrones is much more solemn, with a happy ending.

Production Value: The Walking Dead ad appeared in the Super Bowl, so you know it came with a high price tag, especially for a 60 second spot. And the dragon CGI in the Game of Thrones ad was probably not too cheap either, unless it was already used on the show. Add high profile actors like Emilia Clarke and Norman Reedus to the mix, and you have a high dollar value. That’s ok, because it paid off. The ads are very detailed, making them look and feel very real. They are like extensions of the shows themselves.

Does it Sell? By bringing in actual elements and characters from each show, the Enjoy Better ads are very immersive. They used popular shows that appeal to a broad audience as the backdrop (viewers may remember DIRECTV did something like this a few years ago, where they had characters in famous scenes speaking directly to the audience).

The issue is they didn’t focus enough on what really makes Time Warner Cable different. They could have done better in letting consumers know what their own exclusives are. The Game of Thrones ad touts HBO GO, which isn’t really a TWC exclusive product, and the Walking Dead ad was a little general.

The winner is…

All things considered, the nod goes to DIRECTV. The frustrations felt by the characters are more relatable overall, and the themes are downright funny. Hidden within it all, the consumer gets to know a little about what makes Genie the better DVR product.

Though Time Warner Cable has strong contenders with high production value, the humor vs. sadness tones of the two commercials created inconsistency for the campaign’s emotional theme. But more importantly, the ads fail to truly sell any exclusive TWC products and services.

Satellite and cable companies spend a lot of money to attract new customers. And satellite’s big advertising push has pulled more customers away from cable. But even if a satellite or cable commercial doesn’t sway you one way or the other, we can all agree that the more fun they are to watch, the less we want to fast forward through them.