A lot of cable networks are very worried. They know they can't get away with so many commercials forever. And more and more advertisers are aware that their costly commercials are not even being seen as more and more viewers record their shows and skip the commercials. Some networks are even apologizing for the plethora of boring ads they are forced to run to stay in business. Ari Melber on MSNBC brags about "out shortest commercial." Some news shows stream how long the break will last. The number of commercials is bad enough, but there's a new trend of running the same spot two and even three times. Making it even worse is that most commercials are poorly conceived and badly produced. Does anyone really love the irrelevant Emu or ubiquitous Gecko? Out of curiosity, I have counted as many as 14 commercials in a break, often so run together you can't even get a clear idea of what's being promoted.My solution? During most commercial breaks, I switch to a commercial-free network like PBS or TCM. But even they are beginning to present more promotions which, let's face it, are commercials.
Follow up. Ironically just now while watching Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, he said the news continues on MSNBC right after this break. "This break" turned out to be four commercials, two of them the same commercial for City Furniture.
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