• by Wayne Friedman , June 9, 2008

Reports of the death of the 30-second spot have been greatly exaggerated. Nielsen Co. says when viewers watch ads in prime time, the majority of messaging still comes in this tried-and-true package.

The 30-second spot now accounts for 55% of all advertising units. Fifteen-second spots are the second-biggest messaging vehicle for advertisers. In prime time, 30-second and 15-second units make up 93% of all commercials.

In daytime, the 15-second commercial is tops, accounting for 53% of English-language networks and 42% of total English and Spanish-language combined. Together, 15-second and 30-second ads account for 94% of the total daytime commercials.

The biggest program type on broadcast TV continues to be dramas, which make up 38% (92 of 243) of the programs. The second-biggest category is what Nielsen calls "variety" programs, which comprise some reality shows. That number has climbed to 56.

Next is the "other" category where Nielsen puts sports, game shows, and animation. They numbered 34. Comedies make up 14% or 33 of the 243 total programs. There were 16 programs featuring movies on broadcast networks. News shows came in after that, totaling nine.

On English-language channels only, dramas accounted for 40%--67 of a total 168--of all prime-time programs. This was an increase by seven programs of a year ago. Variety programs make up 23% of English-language network prime-time programs.

The TV measuring company says in 2007, the average U.S. home got 118.6 TV channels--but on average, only 16 of those channels were tuned into for at least 10 minutes per week. Nielsen also notes that the average U.S. TV home now has 2.5 people and 2.8 television sets, and that 31% of U.S. TV homes have digital cable.

Cable has lost some ground to satellite distributors with 61% of home getting cable, versus 68% eight years ago. The percentage of homes that have satellite has moved up 8 percentage points in three years, and is now at 27%.

Nielsen also says 82% of U.S. homes have more than one TV set, and that 87% of U.S. homes have a DVD player.