Over many years of TV evolution advertising and network people have learned that sales promotion on TV depends on keeping the maximum viewership glued to the screen for as long as possible. Hence you have 3 and a half hour football games. You have hour long TV shows with only 40 minutes of actual programming. You have the weather strung out over the course of a 30 minute newscast with teasers all during the show. And you have as much bad news as possible crammed into the peak watched time so as to encourage the audience to hear the rest of the story. We are at a point where money is so embarrassing that sports commentators do not mention the total purse or the players place on the money list. So what’s new? Every sporting event has a dual screen about every 5 minutes where the viewer sees the sports action but also sees and hears a commercial message (an ad). Think “golf playing through”. Another evidence of marketing consultant advice is the “breaking news” syndrome. Consultants tell news people that ears perk up when the term “breaking news” is mentioned. But news isn’t breaking any more so we just get a rehash of yesterday’s headline with as much of the announcer’s personality as he/she can deliver. As we frequently do here, we call your attention to these tricks of the trade so you can really understand what’s going on. Next season we expect the situation to get worse. Less actual program in a time slot for more ad time; more instant promos during sports events; less accurate weather with emphasis on the worst case scenarios; you get the idea. So now you know….
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