So, you thought you were clever and could continue to get away from all those pesky TV commercial messages by fast forwarding through them with your TiVo. Not so fast, Bunky.
The TV network suits are looking for other ways to plop a product ad in front of you. Some of the ideas include five second long commercials. Blap! You have just been exposed to a message before your sweaty thumb can hit the FF button. Cute.
Another ploy is to include sponsors’ actual products into shows that will contain no normal commercials at all. Funny, how all motor vehicles seen on the shows will be from the same manufacturer. This is not a new scheme. The motion picture industry has used it for decades. Ever notice how booze bottle labels always seem to be plainly visible in movie scenes?
According to Dawn Ostroff, president for entertainment at CW, the need for the networks to “engage with viewers to stay with the commercials,” is intensifying for a couple of reasons. One is that Nielsen Media Research (yes, that Nielson) is planning to change the way it reports the ratings data long used by advertisers to decide where to place their commercials. On May 31, Nielsen will start measuring the number of people watching the commercials as well as the programs.
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