Taking The 'Break' Out Of Commercial Periods

http://news.yahoo.com/s/adweek/20070329/ad_bpiaw/takingthebreakoutofcommercialperiods;_ylt=ArCVhVRCn1dWnYc6D3q5pgVxFb8C
by STEVE MCCLELLAN

NEW YORK An episode of According to Jim features the characters
sitting in the family living room watching TV. The shot narrows to the
TV set, on which a commercial begins to run. A few seconds in, the ad
grows to fill the entire shot, and presto, before the viewer realizes
it, without any musical swells or fading to black, he's watching a
commercial.

This scenario, presented to marketers and agency executives last week
at a closed ABC meeting in Burbank, Calif., is just one production
technique the net could use next season in hopes of keeping people
from skipping the commercials. The network showed several examples of
the techniques it's considering, including one that smooths the
transition the other way, from an ad to a TV show. In the clip, a car
commercial ended by focusing on a computer screen on which the next
scene of the program began to unfold. It, too, eventually filled the
TV screen without musical cues, a fade or even a quick network or
local promotion-all traditional tip-offs that the program is about to
resume. The not-so-subtle message to the viewer: Pay close attention
or miss part of the show.

Executives at the meeting said that ABC Entertainment president
Stephen McPherson stressed that the ideas were still a work in
progress. But the fact that the network showed anything at all
highlights the growing pressures on broadcast and cable networks to
come up with more effective techniques for delivering retentive
audiences as the switch to commercial ratings looms.

Mike Shaw, president of ABC Sales, said the network's prime-time
retention of viewers through commercials is 96 percent. But in the age
of commercial ratings, he said, everyone has to strive to do better.
"Commercial ratings are going to foster a reordering of how you buy TV
based on who you think is watching your spots," he said.

ABC is just one of several networks that has shared its plans recently
with marketing and agency executives to get more viewers to do less ad
skipping next season.

The CW Network confirmed last week that it would be expanding its
"content wrap" segments, introduced in the fourth quarter of last
year. In fact, the network has developed a pilot for a possible half-
hour entertainment and lifestyle show, CW Now, based on the wrap
concept.

According to Rick Haskins, evp marketing for the CW Network, the
program would not contain any traditional ads or promos, but marketers
would pay to have their brands mentioned in the show.

The current wrap segments give advertisers three two-minute segments
across a night of programming in which viewers get a mix of product
exposure, lifestyle tips and insights into the lives of CW
celebrities. MediaVest struck the first wrap deal last year for P&G's
Herbal Essence brand, which was featured in America's Next Top Model.

The wraps have been a hit, said Haskins, and have lifted audience
retention levels in pods to near 100 percent. In some cases, the wraps
are higher rated than the shows in which they appear, thus the idea of
the pilot based on the wrap. In addition, Haskins said the network is
considering several different formats for next season, including one-
minute and 30-second versions of the wrap. "It's really about giving
the consumer an entertainment experience," while receiving a branded
message from a sponsor, he said.

Next season TBS will introduce a new concept called the "bitcom," in
which standup comedians will do short routines about specific products
that will lead directly into 30-second spots promoting those same
products. The bitcom spots will be offered throughout the TBS
schedule, said Linda Yaccarino, evp, gm, Turner Entertainment Sales.
She said that TBS would also continue and possibly expand next season
its "very funny commercial" program of putting humorous spots in
isolated pods in sitcoms. Those pods hold audiences better than normal
pods, she said.

On TNT, Yaccarino said plans are in the works for an expanded presence
of "microseries," branded-content segments for sponsors of dramas and
movies. The network aired one series in the fourth quarter of last
year called Change of Plans, that was sponsored by Chase and featured
its new Freedom credit card. The program was produced by TNT for Chase
and was shown in five 30-second segments during an airing of the film
Cast Away. To integrate the campaign to the Web and a promotional
contest, the last segment was available only on tnt.tv.

"This is all being driven by the desire of advertisers to get better
proof of who's really watching their [ads] and how they can reach the
most people," said Yaccarino.

Agency execs said the new retention techniques are critical going
forward. Commenting on ABC's effort, John Swift, managing director in
charge of all buying activity at Omnicom's PHD, said that the CW and
TBS-type efforts "really take it to a place where we all want to go,
which is putting something in the break that is valuable to the
consumer and connects to what the client is trying to do."

Shari Cohen, president, co-executive director, national broadcast,
MindShare, applauded the new efforts, but cautioned that execution is
critical. And if the networks succeed in delivering more viewers to
spots and pods, she said, "creative agencies have to raise the bar
from a quality standpoint also. But what you're really trying to do is
create a new viewing experience for people watching television, so you
have to be mindful that viewers are going to embrace it and that they
don't find it intrusive," said Cohen.

John Spiropoulos, vp, group research director at Publicis's MediaVest,
agreed. "The question is, are we making ads more effective? At the end
of the day a certain number of people are going to tune out of
commercials, so it's about making it more enjoyable for the people
that are there."

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: About to give up OTA and go internet only
    ... Commercial advance that's processed into the show as it's recording; ... If you are saying you can automatically record without commercials, ... The Sony certainly can't network. ... Stop watching in one room, pick up watching at the exact same place in ...
    (alt.tv.tech.hdtv)
  • Re: Average TV viewer not very intelligent
    ... Yeah, we really had to think a bit while watching Lost in Space, I Love ... lineup of shows you watch regularly week in and week out, ... third of all the network offerings. ... channels, ...
    (rec.arts.tv)
  • Re: Its War!
    ... the screen I am watching but could monitor which websites I visit. ... soon have WiFi so if I used a notebook computer with WiFi ... There are other states like Connecticut that say that a network owned ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • 2008-2009 season ad rates
    ... Medical Drama Doesn't Cost Most Any More as Live Events Attract Ad ... program for advertisers on network TV in the 2008-2009 season. ... those commercials are expected to stand out more than those that run ...
    (rec.arts.tv)
  • Re: Desperate "Desperate Housewives"
    ... I wonder if this will eventually work against ABC. ... during commercials, and sometimes forget to come back, often until the ... miss more of the show than I watch. ... but network TV has never blown dead bears with such abandon. ...
    (rec.arts.tv)