I'm surprised that no one else has posted on this subject yet. Fox has announced that two of its new programs will air with a reduced commercial and promotional spot load this fall. These two programs ("Fringe" and "Dollhouse") will run approximately 50 minutes of the hour instead of the 43 that is more typical in recent years. That means five or six less minutes of commercials and half the number of promos that usually run.
Fox is hoping that viewers will be less inclined to skip commercials when there are fewer of them -- and that advertisers will pay a premium for the less cluttered environment.
Interestingly, if this project is successful, it could lead us back to the commercial loads that were standard in network primetime until the early eighties: six or seven minutes of national advertising per hour, two minutes of local ads, and another couple minutes of promos. I hope it succeeds, because it would certainly would improve the TV-watching experience.
Fox is hoping that viewers will be less inclined to skip commercials when there are fewer of them -- and that advertisers will pay a premium for the less cluttered environment.
Interestingly, if this project is successful, it could lead us back to the commercial loads that were standard in network primetime until the early eighties: six or seven minutes of national advertising per hour, two minutes of local ads, and another couple minutes of promos. I hope it succeeds, because it would certainly would improve the TV-watching experience.