And Now, a Commercial Break That Doesn't Seem Like One

AND NOW, A COMMERCIAL BREAK THAT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE ONE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
A viewer who skips the advertising is the moral equivalent of a shoplifter. [Come on, you've read that before.] ABC is considering changes in the decades-old way it interrupts programs for commercial breaks. The goal is to encourage viewers to stick around rather than reaching for the remote or racing to the refrigerator. “We want to bring the audiences right to the commercial so they don't feel they've gone into the commercial,” said Michael Shaw, president for sales and marketing at the ABC Television Network. “The more commercials are being seen,” he added, “the more value you are to advertisers." If ABC changes how it presents commercial breaks during programs like “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Lost,” it would be the biggest broadcast network to do so. A smaller broadcaster, the CW network, owned by CBS and Time Warner, introduced what it calls content wraps for the 2006-7 season.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/business/media/21adco.html
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