Wait! Was That a Word From Our Sponsor?

If you're going to watch TV, you'd better have a good trigger finger — on your DVR's remote control, that is. Ads are surfacing outside of their predictable "commercial pods" at the beginning, middle and end of programs, and you might not know when to hit that fast-forward button.

But, then again, you may not want to.

Starting this May, Jimmy Kimmel will be participating in live commercials during his late night ABC talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!

"Each commercial will be a marriage of product sell and Kimmel's unique brand of humor, designed to entertain and inform," says Douglas Hochstadt, vice president of late night sales for ABC.

Kimmel is not alone. Ellen DeGeneres did it recently with Toyota. Last May The Tonight Show with Jay Leno did it with Garmin.

"Many people didn't realize it was a commercial so they continued to watch the show and learned about the Garmin product as well," spokeswoman Jessica Myers says. Garmin plans to do it again in the second quarter of this year.

Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive vice president of media planning and buying agency Starcom Worldwide, says late night and syndicated daytime talk shows are offering live commercial options a lot more in an effort to combat ad avoidance and the clutter of commercial breaks.

"When you're in the clutter of a commercial pod it's hard to have your message be heard," she says. "I don't think this is necessarily the solution, but this is a trend of everybody trying to find a solution."

Hochstadt says ABC is offering one to advertisers. "Our clients want engagement and attentiveness ... we're responding," he says.

The key is how consumers will respond.

by Willow Duttge