Ad glut turns off viewers
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
...the number of ads and promos has increased sharply over the years. A typical "one-hour" prime-time series clocks in at less than 42 minutes, down from 44 minutes several years ago and nearly 48 minutes in the 1980s...
...But ABC, which studies show has slightly more commercials than other broadcast networks, has changed its drama format in a way that makes it seem even more loaded with ads.
Until recently, dramas unfolded in four segments, or "acts," often preceded by an introductory teaser that aired before the opening credits.
Starting this fall, ABC required all drama producers to carve up each episode into six portions. For some shows, including Housewives, the first segment runs for nine to 11 minutes before the first break. Once viewers are hooked, they're confronted with four more commercial breaks, each about 3½ minutes long, over the next 45 minutes.
To prevent channel surfing, networks increasingly avoid airing commercials between shows. Instead, they save several minutes of more substantial scenes for a show's ending and then move "seamlessly" into the next program. The upshot is that more ads and promos air within programs....
...Lost and Housewives adopted the six-act structure early last season. ABC quickly expanded the practice to its entire lineup of hour-long series. Competitors followed suit: WB's dramas began adopting the same format last January and since last month has used it on every show. CBS and NBC employ it on newer shows including Criminal Minds, Las Vegas, Numb3rs and Surface, although producers of CSI, Law & Order and ER refused to go along. Fox uses it only on Bones.
McPherson says most producers "like it because you have real content in each of the acts."
But Boston Legal producer David E. Kelley isn't among them.
"There's no opportunity to develop any kind of storytelling momentum," Kelley says, fearing that quiet scenes of dialogue will never hold up to increasingly loud "” and frequent "” commercial breaks. "High-octane shows, or puzzle shows, will be immune to it.
"If a knife is plunged into someone's sternum, you pay attention," Kelley says. "But for shows that don't depend on violence or melodramatic scenes, it's tougher to compete in a six-act show than in four acts, or in 41 minutes instead of 45 minutes. You have to be a little more aggressive with them, musically or filmically, just to get people's attention back."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-10-11-ad-glut_x.htm