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"Postmodernism is a change-or-be-changed world. The word is out: Reinvent
yourself for the 21st century or die! Some would rather die than change."
Leonard Sweet, cultural historian.

12/16/2003 Entry: "It's official! Prime time is filled with clutter"

It's official! Prime time is filled with clutter
You are exposed to 52 minutes of promotional clutter during a typical 3-hour block of prime time, according to a new study by Los Angeles-based consultancy PhaseOne Communications and reported in MediaDailyNews. That's up a incredible 36% from 1991, when PhaseOne conducted its first Advertising Environment Study. The average length of commercial breaks has also grown, rising to 3.05 minutes - a 41 percent jump from 1998.

The PhaseOne report concluded that if a viewer were to watch three consecutive hours on any of the networks during prime time, he or she would be exposed to a minimum of 130 commercials, programming promos, or public service announcements. ABC "led" its network peers in both average number of spots (152) and promotion time (54.6 minutes); Fox boasted the smallest number of spots (130), CBS devoted the smallest amount of time to promotion (50.8 minutes), and NBC had the longest average commercial break (3.6 minutes).
Is it really any wonder why the TiVo generation is upon us? What human being of average intelligence is going to sit through 130 commericals during prime time?


"The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create."
Leonard Sweet