The Big Push in TV This Fall is Mini

THE BIG PUSH IN TV THIS FALL IS MINI
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn]
As the TV season kicks off, you may be noticing bite-sized shows -- story-driven shorts usually no more than a minute long. With shorter attention spans and the rise of digital video recorders making viewers more adept at commercial avoidance, "breaking up commercial pods with compelling content is a way to make programs and networks more sticky and to keep viewers from drifting, which has an effect not just on the programs' ratings but on the network's bottom line," says John Rash of the Minneapolis-based advertising agency Campbell Mithun. The fact is: The whole industry is winging it. ''And anybody who says anything different is basically lying to you,'' says Ben Grossman, Los Angeles bureau chief of the trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable. ''I mean, it's still not a lot of money in it yet. It's basically promotion. But that said, everybody feels, and probably rightfully so, that they've got to be in the game.''
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/10/08/daily.4/