Let's Be Honest About Commercials For a Minute

I finally got around to watching last week's episode of ABC's Lost last night on my DVR. Want to know how many commercials I watched with it? None. Well, okay, maybe that's not true. I guess I watched all of them in fast forward and not a single one sticks with me this morning. No wonder the changing commercial break was the hot topic of discussion at upfronts last week. But the problem is only going to get worse for broadcasters and advertisers as DVRs continue to proliferate. And the data will start to show it. At the end of this May, Nielsen will begin to release ratings of how many people actually watch commericals, on average, for each show. Today, The New York Times discusses how some of the networks are experimenting with new formats to keep the viewers on the couch or off the FF button during commerical breaks. One concept is to have a commerical that lasts an entire break and integrates stars from programs into storied ads. Here's my two cents on this: If I can fast-forward a commercial, I will. I don't care if TV stars are shilling product for the full break or if the commerical tells a cute story. In my opinion, the only ad strategy that holds promise in the age of DVR is having a commerical run concurrently with the program, as MTV did with Verizon during live telecast of a Fall Out Boy concert. That way, I miss the program if I fast forward. Or we can just go back to the old sponsorship model from the 1950s, which also seems to be making a resurgence.

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