• by Wayne Friedman , September 10, 2008

Now that TV networks are pinning their advertising worth on commercial ratings--not to mention dealing with the effects of DVR fast-forwarding--many net executives believe the future comes in keeping viewers entertained during commercial breaks.

One West Coast short-form entertainment programming company, M3 Television, believes informational/interstitial clips--one or two minutes in length--can keep viewers from tuning out and/or fast- forwarding through commercial messages.

The company started five years ago, specializing in producing entertainment vignettes. Founding executives Andy Meyers, president of M3, and partners Roman Perez and Brad Baruh had plenty of experience. They produced entertainment vignettes for the syndicated magazine show "Entertainment Tonight."

With cable network clients like Disney Channel, Comedy Central and Lifetime, M3 has already created a number of branded interstitial programs. For example, it worked on short-form programs for Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" CD. Running on Comedy Central, M3 produced short-form programming for several Universal Pictures theatrical movies. It did the same on Lifetime for "Army Wives," the network's big franchise series.

Many of these interstitials take the form of entertainment magazine-style content, featuring interviews with talent interspersed with video. They give viewers a bit more programming in the midst of big cable network commercial pods, and at the same time send a commercial message.

"It's taking that [entertainment] experience and giving it to advertisers as a new innovative way to sell product--one that isn't going to turn people off," says Andy Meyers.

With virtually every network offering C3 ratings guarantees-- commercial ratings plus three days of DVR playback--keeping viewers' attention during commercial pods is far more important than in the past.

TV ad executives understand the power of entertainment. Some have toyed with the idea of programming commercial breaks. For example, possibly placing a heavier emphasis on running movie trailers at the beginning of the commercial pod.

This trend fits well into companies like M3.

Meyers says the next step is to convince non-entertainment advertisers--such as cereal, toy and auto companies--to sponsor more of these segments as commercial pod busters. "It's a subtle, TiVo-proof way to sell your products," he says. "It's such a different model. We have done this, and it works."