Monday, August 29, 2011

Fixng the Broken Commercial Break

The television commercial break, for so long the gold-standard for mass-media advertising, especially during prime time, is falling on hard times. 

The commercial break has long been considered a prime opportunity to run to the bathroom, see what's in the fridge, or continue a conversation with the person sitting across the room.  Then TIVO introduced the first DVR and now millions of people are time-shifting programming and zipping past commercials at 3x speed.  What does all this mean for television advertising? 

Forrester Research just released a study that says online advertising budgets will pass those for television by 2016, just 5 years from now.  It's a pretty interesting piece of work.  Here's the link: 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2011/08/26/online-ad-spend-to-overtake-tv/

There was a story circulating a few years ago that a prominent ad agency in Miami would dismiss anyone who dared mention a 30-second spot while in a brain storming session.   The new media is sexier.  Creativity was drawn to interactivity like moths to a light bulb. 

So is there a future for television advertising.  You betcha!  Just take a look at what AT&T has done with BBC America.  I'll give you a link to all the details but in brief, they created a 60-second spot that both pushes AT&T and advances the show's plot.  This is product placement on HGH.  It's great stuff.  Here's that link:

http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/t-story-doctor/229500/

What's the future of television advertising?  Better creative.  Looser boundaries between content and advertising.   Bolder steps. 

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