• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 7, 2022

One noted TV producer and performer believes an ad-free Hulu option is better -- Pamela Adlon, for her five-year-old comedy/drama “Better Things.” In other words: avoid viewing her show on the FX Network where the show has advertising, in and around the half-hour-long episode of the TV series.

It's her words. This is what the writer, director, and actor on the series told The Hollywood Reporter:

“Don’t watch it on FX with commercials. I’ll throw up. There’s nothing more dehumanizing than watching an episode of my show with commercial breaks.”

No doubt, there are plenty of other TV producers who feel the same way. Not sure all of them will offer up this gut-wrenching view about TV advertising.

But viewers may have other ideas. Plenty of research, on both sides of the argument, would reveal that TV viewers have no problems with advertising in TV shows. Still, other surveys will tell you TV viewers have major issues with advertising in TV content.

Who really has the leverage here -- especially in this modern, competitive, digital and connected TV world? Right now, the burgeoning TV programming/content ecosystem -- by way of all this streaming -- might be putting TV producers into a better negotiating position.

In the near future, will they have any real sway in this regard?

Well, for starters we can see how TV producers and TV studios' sister ad-supported platforms could consider trimming back to running just pre-roll and post-roll advertising -- no messaging in the programming content itself.

New premium streaming platforms continue to promote “limited” advertising  to entertainment consumers -- around just four to six minutes of total advertising time per hour. That would be much less than the 13 to 17 minutes of advertising and promotional content per hour that is primarily on live and linear TV networks.

A more key question is: what's the overall trendline here in terms of advertising loads?

Currently, streaming platforms are ramping up competitive programming/production spending. Netflix is at the top -- looking at an estimated $17 billion per year. Others are not that far behind, also looking to dramatically increase programming content.

So TV producers who might be considering striking deals with new streaming platforms, they might be asking: “Wait. You say you are desperate for new original TV and movie content? We have new conditions we need going forward.”

At some point, quality will rub up against quantity. At that point, TV producers may have the upper hand -- or maybe your friendly non-scripted/reality TV producers or user-generated YouTube content creators may be easier to play with.