If viewers are engaged with a TV commercial, their fingers aren't coming near a fast-forward button. That may be enough -- for the time being. Now that commercial actors have a new contract with advertisers, TV marketers could be seeking better performances for those pay increases. Some form of engagement factor might be necessary.

It's the recession and April 1 -- so start spending money on TV shows. This is no fool's joke. Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Group, said as much -- emphatically. "All our numbers show this, that the companies that invest in content in times of recession do better," he told TV and media executives at MIPTV, the international television conference in Cannes.