Commentary

Overlong Commercial Breaks Alienate Viewers

by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, February 4, 2022

“Resident Alien” was a great show, right up until the moment Syfy put it on TV.

This week on Wednesday night, the commercial load in the episode Syfy aired at 9 p.m. Eastern was so extreme that it became nearly impossible to follow the show’s storyline as the show went on.

This was the second episode of the second season of “Resident Alien” that began a week earlier.

In both episodes, Syfy’s first commercial break came with a welcome on-air note shown just before the commercials aired. It informed us that the show would be back in just one minute, which it was.

This raised hopes that Syfy planned to limit the rest of the commercial breaks in this very entertaining show in the same manner. But it was not to be.

As each episode wore on, the breaks came with increased frequency. By the final quarter hour, it seemed as if the commercial breaks were arriving within five minutes of each other, or possibly less.

The feeling that these breaks were coming every five minutes or so might not be technically true. But at the same time, viewers' perceptions are their reality.

And the perception here was that Syfy didn’t care about its audience or the show, or both.

The issue of disruptive commercial breaks whose frequency and length are beyond the pale has come up from time to time here in the TV Blog.

It is also a subject that comes up sometimes at TV upfronts. In these instances, network presidents and sales heads will announce that their companies have taken a look at their obese commercial breaks and then promise to put them on a diet.

This never happens. And if it does, it does not last long.

For years, many regular viewers of ad-supported TV content have been aware of this problem and the way it presents an obstacle to their enjoyment of TV shows.

But as a TV columnist, I sometimes need reminding that regular people do not enjoy the same privileges I do when it comes to watching TV.

Not only do I get access to TV shows in advance of their airdates (via proprietary websites the networks have set up for this purpose), but even more importantly, I get to see TV shows headed to the commercial-supported networks without any commercials.

Personally, I do watch quite a bit of “regular” TV in the evening and have become just as aware as anyone else of the long commercial breaks embedded in both scripted and unscripted TV shows.

But when I review TV shows here, I sometimes lose sight of the fact that my viewing experience is far different from that of the average viewer who does not enjoy access to the networks’ commercial-free media websites.

Take “Resident Alien.” Regular readers of this TV Blog (if there are any) know the high esteem in which this column holds this show.

Last season, I watched most of it on Syfy after watching the first episode on the NBCU media site and reviewing it.

I enjoyed it very much, and in retrospect, one reason that the experience was so pleasant was because last season’s episodes were not broken up by commercials to the extent this year’s have been, at least to my recollection.

I certainly realize that TV is a business, so it is not surprising that some networks load up on commercials, which are the business’s bread and butter.

But what does it say about a network’s regard for its shows and its audience when they mar their great shows with intrusive interruptions every couple of minutes?

After enduring Syfy’s presentation of “Resident Alien” this past Wednesday, I asked myself a question about next week’s episode: Why bother?

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4 comments about "Overlong Commercial Breaks Alienate Viewers".

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David Scardino from TV & Film Content Development, February 4, 2022 at 10:42 a.m.
Adam, I first began dealing with commercials, professionally in 1964, while working at WNBC-TV in the traffic department. The network, then, ran 6 commercial minutes per hour. By the time I left the business side of the business, in 2013, commercial loads had more than doubled and in many cases tripled or were even greater. My attitude was that if a network was running that many commercials per hour, clearly they knew no one was watching. Consequently why would I ever recommend my clients joiining that parade of unwatched advertising? The stance made life difficult for me and won no friends among the network sales forces, but it had logic going for it and, ultimately, I felt was in service to clients paying the freight. It's hard not to believe we are now watching legacy broadcast and cable TV in a death spiral... and I say that sadly.
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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, February 4, 2022 at 10:58 a.m.

Dave and Adam, the real problem is that TV time buyers grant sellers with "high" ratings higher CPMs, regardless of the degree of commercial clutter on their shows, while those with "low" ratings are penalized as if their viewers are less valuable---or the low rated sellers aren't putting out a "quality" product. This BS has gone on for many decades---just ask one of the low CPM tier cable channels---or cable sellers in general about it. The problem is that advertiser CMOs don't give a damn---no matter what they say in public forums.

There was a time when the ANA funded an annual tally of commercial loads on the TV networks as a way to keep track of them---but this was abandoned as the cost---around $100,000 per year----was deemed too costly. More recently Kantar was posting a periodic TV ad clutter report---but this suddenly disappeared---I wonder why.

As for whether people watch the commercials, tthe evidence is that they do ---about 40% per commericial---and it is likely that in high clutter situations this percentage drops to 35% or maybe a bit lower. How can this be? It's simple. Many TV viewers actually like commercials and find them informative or entertaining.

Maarten Albarda from Flock Associates (USA), February 4, 2022 at 1:01 p.m.

First of all, LOVE Resident Alien. Secondly, here at Chez Albarda we watch everything either on demand or on DVR. Live TV is reserved for very rare occassions... like maybe once every other month (usually soccer related). When we watch on DVR (i.e. delayed recorded) we can fast forward the commercials. That helps! We find ourselves muting commercials a lot, when they are not "fast forwardable". Surely we are not alone.

Gary milner from The Simpler Way, February 14, 2022 at 1:36 p.m.

There is so much ad free tv out there now i dont know why viewers put up with this, almost appeals to those who dont value their own time. Unfortunately CTV could help solve this problem but i see similar issues - Hulu may as well be called the progrssive insurance network as i must have had close to 1000 ads in the last two years AND ad buyers arent buying lower (but probably good audience spots) on the likes of Peacock (ryder cup and premier league soccer are examples of no ads running). Marketers are inherently fiscally wasteful, particularly those who are "brand building".