Too Many Commercials on 13WHAM

[Bill Myers]

Just a question I wanted to put out for pondering....
Does anyone think 13WHAM airs too many commercials? I'm referring to the 11pm newscast specifically. I know they run news for 11 straight minutes with out commercial interruption but they sure make up for it at the end of their newscast. With totally nothing to do, I've taken note of broadcast times. They go into Sports at 11:24pm and come out of it about 11:27pm. I like watching Nightline or at least like to see what it's about. From 11:27pm to 11:35 they run a good 8 minutes worth of commercials. Some annoying as anything and some they run twice in the same block. Except for the quick 'Goodbye Nightline's next' which lasts about :02 seconds it's back into another 'entertaining' set of commercials. Also included: Station promos, ID's, etc. They are all commercial'ed up at the top of their newscast as well. I don't think their news comes on till 6:00:30 and 11:00:30 and sometimes 11:01:00 due to lottery drawings.
Just a complaint I wanted to air and get you guys and ladies ideas on. I know the station's gotta make money and all that. I just think it's kinda too much and very easy for me to station turn or throw the remote down and walk outta the room in frustration.

Thanks for your time.

Bill

 

[newscool]

I agree with you, but for me, it seems like it's with their morning show. I watch 10 mostly, but I tend to flip during commercials. Everytime I flip to 13, there is ALWAYS a commercial on. 8 doesn't have that many commercials, because I usually find them on during 10's break. It is so bad with 13 that I don't even bother to turn their morning show anywmore because my instincts tells me that they have a commercial on.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I think there are too many commercials on cable television. Here we are paying a high monthly fee to Time Warner as it is and yet we have to endure numerous commercials to the point that it takes time and segments away from the programs we're watching. It reminds me of going to the movie theater, paying for a ticket, then having to endure commercials and previews of upcoming movies.

 

[BobRoss]

Kinda makes you wish we were back in the days when the FCC forbid anyone from more than 8 minutes of spots in any given half-hour.

Probably one of the biggest problems WHAM faces is that they are the lottery station in that market. Any station that carries lottery has the curse of plotting their entire 11:00 newscast around hitting that live feed at 11:21:00 every night. Nobody does lottery in the middle of a news block -- it's either the beginning or the end of a commercial break. Some night's it's quick (Take Five only) and other nights they take forever (Take Five plus Lotto). And as you pointed out, lottery stations get the pleasure of being screwed twice on Mega Millions nights... when everyone else's newscasts are starting at 11:00:00 on the nose, lottery stations get a 30-45 second late start. (And does having live lottery really draw viewers in? Seriously?)

Add in the 11-minute A-block and they've got quite a predicament. Now, it sounds to me like 11-minutes is something WHAM has only been doing recently. Correct? Are they promoting it? Or does it just seem more like an experiment, where they're not "branding" it in case they ditch it?

It's tough, but possible, for an "11 at 11" type of newscast to maintain the same spotload as a "traditional" (8-minute A-block) newscast. WSYR in Syracuse has been doing 11 at 11 for more than a decade, and they still manage to get in 4 breaks, each more than 2 minutes long. Sports is still normal length, and nothing else feels "short" either. Maybe it's just the way they fill the remaining blocks.

There's no reason to air a full break, come back just to say goodnight, and then air another full break. If that's really happening, then either the ND needs to rethink the formatting of the show, or the producer needs to do a better job timing it. Perhaps it would lift a great weight off their shoulders to lose lottery, or at least run the drawings on tape-delay. WSTM in Syracuse runs Mega Millions at the end of the A-block, and they often tape-delay the night 11:21 drawing as well. WSTM can't afford to run Mega live -- they're in a tight race with WSYR at 11pm, and giving WSYR a 30-second head start would only send WSTM even deeper into second place than they already are. As for the 11:21 drawing, again, you shouldn't have to make the second half of the newscast revolve entirely around hitting lottery live. Just block the show in whatever way works best, and lottery can air "whenever." Most viewers won't have any clue (nor do they probably care) if lottery is really live or not.

Perhaps it's a matter of WHAM trying to air too many spots during the show. If you're going to do an 11-minute A-block, there's a chance you may need to lower the unit count. It sounds like they were already a little bloated, by not starting until 11:00:30. Lower the number of avails, and raise the rates for the remaining avails. Supply and demand. With WHAM's ratings, they should have no problem getting clients to pay a little more... especially if the sales reps do a good job of explaining how fewer spots means people will be more likely to pay attention. I certainly would not want to be paying top dollar for the 9th spot out of 12 in that long chain before Nightline, but I'd be willing to pay more if I knew I'd be the 3rd spot out of 4.

 

[Bill Myers]

Thanks for you ideas and thoughts...

Newscool: That's funny you say that cuz I get the same instinct. I'l go into the room and put on 13 and just about without betting on it I could tell you their in a commercial break. And it's not one that's just ending. It's starting. Of course they've gotta run promos, ID's and sweepers reminding us in case we forgot that we're watching 13WHAM News, and now the latest, your Breaking News Authority station. But Newscool, you're right. The instinct is there.

Voice of Reason: You're right about what we pay. Ya know, when I've taped programs and especailly half hour programs it amazes me how little time is really given to the product. I can get through a program in about 18-20 minutes or around 40 minutes. 10/20 minutes of spots and ID's?

BobRoss: Goin' back to the 60's, from what I can remember I don't think stations aired many commercials. Maybe about 3 minutes in a block? Of course you didn't have any computer graphics back then to show off how cool your station's supers looked. Plus I seem to remember there were dead spots of a few seconds between commercials. Of course then it was all operator assisted. And I'm sure tapes didn't cue up right.

One last thing about 13WHAM - I don't mean to sound 'down' on 13 it's just that I watch it all the time. What's with all the Breaking News alerts? I understand what the station is doing. But come on....I go running into the room balancing a cup of coffee just to hear someone got stabbed or shot or - this is really Breaking - there's been a mall shooting in North Dakota. Either 13WHAM is expecting something really BIG to happen one day and they wanna establish themselves as the Breaker authority or they're really buckin' for viewers with cheap gimmicks. It is so much like yelling FIRE FIRE FIRE. Then tell your family - sorry just kiddin'.
One thing we should all be thankful for despite what the media forces on us is that there is an OFF button and it can be mightly pushed.

Thanks

Bill

 

[Rochwatcher]

Commercials=$

A station would be oh so lucky to have a lot of commercials to run---especially in tough times like these.

While viewers may hate it, 13 is not.

 

[Kohoutek]

Thanks for you ideas and thoughts...

One last thing about 13WHAM - I don't mean to sound 'down' on 13 it's just that I watch it all the time. What's with all the Breaking News alerts? I understand what the station is doing. But come on....I go running into the room balancing a cup of coffee just to hear someone got stabbed or shot or - this is really Breaking - there's been a mall shooting in North Dakota. Either 13WHAM is expecting something really BIG to happen one day and they wanna establish themselves as the Breaker authority or they're really buckin' for viewers with cheap gimmicks.

I see it as a sign of desperation.
Their once dominant shares have (with the exception of mornings) slipped to next to nothing in some shows. It's kind of sad to see them go for this cheap ploy, but like I said, maybe it's a case of desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

[mimic001]

Not to throw gasoline on a fire... but if you think it's bad now...

I just spoke with WHAM's genl. sales manager. He's already getting orders for political advertisers (you may have already seen Maffei). He's predicting a huge year for the station (many stations are HOPING for pols to save them in this economy). In fact, WHAM is charging politicals at a rate of six times what the normal commercial cost would be in the news.

Wait until that 6-8 minute block of commercials is wall to wall politicals, and believe me, if they get enough interest from pols., that A block will be gone. That, my friends is when you ready your thumb for the "off" button.

 

[Bill Myers]

Wait until that 6-8 minute block of commercials is wall to wall politicals, and believe me, if they get enough interest from pols., that A block will be gone. That, my friends is when you ready your thumb for the "off" button.

So no more 11 in the first 11 I would imagine. With the internet, and a station's homepage, weather, news, etc, by 6pm one should have a pretty good shake as to what's goin' on anyways they don't really need to sit and watch it. Maybe something more entertaining to watch - Andy Griffith? Bev Hills?

 

[Kohoutek]

Not to throw gasoline on a fire... but if you think it's bad now...

I just spoke with WHAM's genl. sales manager. He's already getting orders for political advertisers (you may have already seen Maffei). He's predicting a huge year for the station (many stations are HOPING for pols to save them in this economy). In fact, WHAM is charging politicals at a rate of six times what the normal commercial cost would be in the news.

Wait until that 6-8 minute block of commercials is wall to wall politicals, and believe me, if they get enough interest from pols., that A block will be gone. That, my friends is when you ready your thumb for the "off" button.

I thought that by law stations had to charge their LOWEST rate for politcal ads (?)

 

[BobRoss]

I thought that by law stations had to charge their LOWEST rate for politcal ads (?)

I thought so too... so I went to the FCC's website and looked it up. Apparently, the "lowest unit charge" rule doesn't kick into effect until we get closer to the election.

Section 73.1942 [47 CFR §73.1942] Candidate rates.
(a) Charges for use of stations. The charges, if any, made for the use of any broadcasting station by any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office in connection with his or her campaign for nomination for election, or election, to such office shall not exceed:

(1) During the 45 days preceding the date of a primary or primary runoff election and during the 60 days preceding the date of a general or special election in which such person is a candidate, the lowest unit charge of the station for the same class and amount of time for the same period.

Maffei is the sole Democratic candidate, so he will not be in a primary. Thus, the 45-day window before the primary doesn't count. Only the 60-day rule leading up to the general election matters in his case. If Election Day is November 4, then that 60-day window begins September 5. As far as Maffei (or anyone else NOT facing a primary) is concerned, any station can charge anything they want up until September 5th. If Maffei has the money and wants to pay the higher rates, good for him and the station.

Look at the rule one more time: "the lowest unit charge of the station for the same class and amount of time for the same period." It doesn't matter what the lowest rate on the air is today. It only matters when those 45-day and 60-day windows take effect. If a station feels confident that they'll have SO many political ads that there may not be room for many other clients, they can go ahead and raise the rates. But yes, they have to raise the rates for every single client, political or not... so if the non-political clients don't like the higher rates, the station may wind up with unfilled inventory and/or disgruntled clients who don't come back after the elections.

On the other hand, if WHAM is really charging 6 times the normal rate, and they fill MOST of their inventory, they'll still come out ahead of the game. Heck, if you normally have 4 spots in a break, but you only get 1 client willing to pay 6 times the normal rate for that same break, you're still making out like a bandit. And right after elections are over you're into the holiday shopping season, another time of the year when broadcasters generally rack up a lot of revenue.

The only thing that could wipe out my theory is if "annuals" have an effect on the above two paragraphs. The actual law, as written on the FCC website, gets into more detail about the different "classes" of time, which may or may not put political ads on the same "level" as annual clients (who usually have a pretty good per-unit rate as a reward for buying an entire year in advance).