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Stay Tuned for Ads During TV Shows

Advertisers to paste commercials on sides of screen

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 10, 2009 9:10 AM CDT
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(Newser) – A new strategy aims to grab the attention of viewers now using DVR to skip commercial breaks: in tests, so-called “in-show ads” are run on the top or bottom of the screen—and even on occasion in the middle—during the action, Advertising Age reports. Execs are betting that Americans today have the “capacity to accept multiple messaging all at once.” Early results are encouraging, they say: ads run in a crawl at the bottom of the screen during NASCAR coverage did significantly better than spots.

In one ABC experiment, some 29% more people on average remembered an ad when it was packaged in the center of weather graphics, rather than during a break. Of course, there's a risk of audience rejection, as some found with ads that superimposed on a transparent screen over a sports match. “While I think viewers can handle a lot," one skeptic notes, "that doesn't mean they necessarily want to."

Actor Steve Carell appears in a scene from The Office.
Actor Steve Carell appears in a scene from "The Office."   (AP Photo/NBC, Justin Lubin)
For those who like to skip commercials, advertisers are experimenting with in-show ads.
For those who like to skip commercials, advertisers are experimenting with in-show ads.
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
diltsduo
Aug 10, 2009 6:42 AM CDT
MTV or VH1 runs ads for itself in the MIDDLE of the screen....drives me nuts.
Yourself
Aug 10, 2009 3:50 AM CDT
if you put ads in the middle of the screen during my show, i GUARANTEE you i'm not watching it anymore and writing to the host network to complain.
Newser001
Aug 10, 2009 3:49 AM CDT
The pop-ups on Discovery HD, Travel HD and National Geographic HD, just to name a few, are beyond annoying. They step on the program translations, locations, subject's names, locations, interfere with captioning, etc... Notice the ever present STARZ logos...? They seriously detract from low lighted scenes AND can be a liability with regard to screen burn-in. It's all getting out of hand. To much hype...

 
television • advertising • marketing • commercials • television advertising

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