Tv ads

[janneppi]

I was in North America yesterday to watch the F1 race on Speed Channel ( ;) ) and was amazed how many ads threre were and how long they were compared to Finnish ads, it seemed there were five or six ads during a thirty minute time period.
Same was when the Ice hockey world cup was on, ads were so long and on for so often I sometimes forgot to switch back to the game from another channel. :erm:

Again, same with the tv show 24, thre are twice as many ads in the original compared to local tv, I read that it's 20 minutes of ads oper episode in thew other side of the pond.

Am I just blessed with shorter ads here, or do the Americans go thouroghly overboard with their ads?
And is that really the reason why they are fat? So many commercial breaks, so little distance to the fridge? :D

Oh, to prevent the anti-americanism accusations, on to the real question, how annoying are the ads in your tv? :)

[Hondo]

Pretty damn annoying, especially since when cable tv first started in this country, it got itself official status in many juridictions as a public utility, like electric, gas, water, and phone companies. And because the service and programming would be paid for by the subscribers, there would be no commercial interruptions (ads).

On the other hand, few if any with the exception of C-Span, broadcasting networks are owned or subsidized by the government nor do we have spooks sneaking around seeing if we are watching tv without having paid a tv tax of some sort. So we have more ads because thats how they make their money to keep broadcasting and buy summer homes.

[L5->R5/CR]

In the US 8 minutes of advertisements per 30 minutes is standard.

Most Americans are sick of it. We record 90% of what we watch on our DVR so we can watch it whenever and also fast forward through advertisements.

[ChrisS]

I was in the US when the f1 qualifying format was cars going out one by one doing one lap. the format was 5 cars break 5 cars break etc... speed showed 2 cars break, 2 cars break etc... it was very annoying but it also means they lied about showing the session live when they were showing a recording.

[Eki]

In the US 8 minutes of advertisements per 30 minutes is standard.

Here in Finland, one commercial break per 30 minutes program is the norm. One commercial break is about few minutes.

[janneppi]

Five minutes if the show is popular is about maximum. And that's a minute too much, My name is Earl is on a commercial break at the moment and I had plenty of time to make this post. :)

[RaikkonenRules]

Here in Finland, one commercial break per 30 minutes program is the norm. One commercial break is about few minutes.

It's about the same in England.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Apparently the rules governing TV ads over here is going to change, allowing ads of 15minutes per hour :s

I think i'd just watch BBC more.

[A.F.F.]

Five minutes if the show is popular is about maximum. And that's a minute too much, My name is Earl is on a commercial break at the moment and I had plenty of time to make this post. :)

I've counted eight minutes and the most ridicilous thing is that the show was aired at night. :mark:

[CarlMetro]

I'm already at the point where I record the F1 races and then watch them later and we're starting to do that with some of the other programmes we watch regularly too.

If I'm watching a programme 'live' then when the adverts come on I tend to flick through some of the other channels instead of watching them and then flick back after a couple of minutes.

Although nothing compares to the advert breaks in America, drives me nuts every time I go over there :s

[Storm]

I am watching the last few races on Speed as well and I agree with your assessment janneppi...just waaaaaay too many ad breaks during the GPs

Yesterday it was okay since they ran so many laps behind the SC, but they just have so many breaks its crazy.

Previous race, just when they were about to cut for a break, Alonso/Kimi came in for a pit-stop and so they delayed the commercial break by a minute to show the pit-stops but then went to the break just when Hamilton came in for the pits (so no consistency!) and when eventually the loooong break ended they went on another break in a couple of laps! :crazy:

I am always dissing the coverage (mostly Steve Slater on commentry) for the coverage on Star TV but its much better than Speed (and the droning voice of Matchett or Hobbs whoever it is). And even Star takes many breaks but at least they come back in under a minute.

[tinchote]

I was in North America yesterday to watch the F1 race on Speed Channel ( ;) ) and was amazed how many ads threre were and how long they were compared to Finnish ads, it seemed there were five or six ads during a thirty minute time period.
Same was when the Ice hockey world cup was on, ads were so long and on for so often I sometimes forgot to switch back to the game from another channel. :erm:

Again, same with the tv show 24, thre are twice as many ads in the original compared to local tv, I read that it's 20 minutes of ads oper episode in thew other side of the pond.

Am I just blessed with shorter ads here, or do the Americans go thouroghly overboard with their ads?
And is that really the reason why they are fat? So many commercial breaks, so little distance to the fridge? :D

Oh, to prevent the anti-americanism accusations, on to the real question, how annoying are the ads in your tv? :)


There had to be a good side, though. Because their ads run so long, often they are not in sync with the Canadian ones. So I can watch on TSN and then during the ads I flip to Speed :D

Regarding series, the standard 30-minute sitcom episode in USA last 22 minutes. The standard 1-hour episode lasts around 40 minutes. We tend to record the shows we watch to avoid the ads. TiVo is even better, I guess.

[schmenke]

There had to be a good side, though. Because their ads run so long, often they are not in sync with the Canadian ones. So I can watch on TSN and then during the ads I flip to Speed :D ...

:up: :D

[L5->R5/CR]

There had to be a good side, though. Because their ads run so long, often they are not in sync with the Canadian ones. So I can watch on TSN and then during the ads I flip to Speed :D

Regarding series, the standard 30-minute sitcom episode in USA last 22 minutes. The standard 1-hour episode lasts around 40 minutes. We tend to record the shows we watch to avoid the ads. TiVo is even better, I guess.



44 minutes is standard.

Pick up a DVD release of any hour long show and it will be 44 minutes almost exact.

Thank god for the DVR...

[janneppi]

With all these new gadgeds, one would think that tv networks should realize they are sawing off the branch they are sitting on. If the ads are unbearable, people will record the shows and skip ads completely.

[Camelopard]

With all these new gadgeds, one would think that tv networks should realize they are sawing off the branch they are sitting on. If the ads are unbearable, people will record the shows and skip ads completely.

Which is pretty much what I do.
Even Australia's crap pay TV service foxtel has heaps of ads, even though you are already paying a subscription for it and they seem to time the channels to have ads at the same time just in case people channel surf.

[Drew]

I watched the British GP in Cyprus, there was not one advert during the race, that surprised me big time!

[Storm]

Maybe you watched in on national tele there....here we had a great season when DD2 (national tv = DD) was showing the races live as well as Star.....(with ITV feed) and no breaks :up:

[Mark]

I try to use my pvr (V+) for as much as possible. Even to the extent of pausing a programme and doing something else for 10mins.

[Hazell B]

Like Carl, I tend to cannel surf when ads are on, or read teletext.

However, I recently sat watching a few ad breaks to catch one specific advert for Woolworths in which Darth Vader made toast with his lightsabre. I'd been told it was brilliant, but couldn't see how toaster adverts with George Lucas twists could make me laugh ... until I saw it.

The toast was "a bit on the dark side" :laugh:

If they were all that funny, I'd watch them.