NBC Using Live Commercials to Fight DVRs
In a move that has been repeatedly predicted here long ago, NBC is now inserting commercial content into the show to avoid people who skip commercial breaks with their DVR:
To fight the challenge posed by TiVo, NBC is borrowing a tactic from television’s early days—live commercials.
Tuesday’s broadcast of “The Tonight Show” will air a live skit promoting car satellite-navigation devices made by Garmin International. The skit will air immediately before the show goes to commercial break. There, the message will be reinforced with a taped spot for Garmin taking the first slot in the break.
However, this skit is really only the beginning of the long inevitable slide towards advertiser sponsored programming. The genius of the 30-second spot was that it created a firewall between content producers and advertisers. The content producers were free to create compelling programming and the advertisers were free to create whatever spots they wanted within their allotted time.
Now, the only way to ensure that viewers see the ad is to make the entire show the ad. Remember folks, you heard it here first. Now its time to go watch some Texaco Star Theater.
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