>What is it with ads every 5 minutes during nationally televised programs, sporting and current events? That question may seem self explanatory to many considering what type of media age we live in with everything from breath mints to large SUVs pining for five to ten second commercial slots. It is just interesting to me that during these oh-so-important games or current events, there are stops in the action nearly every five minutes. For example, this past Monday while I was calmly sloutching down onto the couch watching the NCAA basketball championship game, it seemed that there was a timeout by Florida or UCLA or a television timeout one after the other after the other. It seemed there was no time to truly enjoy the beating Florida was giving UCLA (although given the fact i was routing for UCLA, it was not as enjoyable as I had hoped).
As i look back upon it, we as Americans seem to be much more fascinated by advertisements promoting the latest and newest gadgets on the market than we are with what is actually going on on the tube. And yes, while the companies that manufacture and sell the latest “IT” products pay beaucoup bucks for advertising slots, i cant help but think what could take their place.
I was chatting it up with my father the other day, while he was vacationing in France, about how differently media and advertising is presented on television there VS. here . I was talking to him about how aggitated I was getting with the basketball game on Monday, not about the score but of how many times they stopped to go to commercial. He told me that in France, only once during a 30 minute or 1 hour episode on television do they allow commercials. That is why I have TIVO and why I wait until my favorite television shows come out on dvd, to spare myself from the insane amount of advertisements every 5 minutes. The only time i care about television advertisements is during that unofficial American Sunday holiday, the Super Bowl.
Speaking of, what happens to those “Super” multi-million dollar ads after the game? I would think that if advertisers spent millions of dollars for, at most, ten seconds of airtime to promote their product, then they would show it all year long to get their money’s worth. Yet, we rarely see the Super Bowl ads during regular scheduled programming. Here is food for thought; why dont advertisers jump on the European bandwagon and adopt the idea i spoke of earlier? I have seen networks, when showing giant blockbuster movies, go commercial-free but how about trying that for award shows or gigantic sports tournaments and only allowing airtime once every 30 minutes or 1 hour?
Hmm, novel idea! Will it fly? Yeah, i didnt think so.
Scribblings From a Beer-Stained Napkin 