TV Watching Convenience With and Without Commercials

Plug in your earbuds, turn the click wheel on your iPod and sit back and enjoy your favorite TV episode while you are flying. Tune the TiVo and save yourself nearly twenty minutes in an hour-long program by skipping the commercials. Don't want to spend the money? No problem! Watch some of your favorites online for free at Hulu.com.

With so many options for viewing TV episodes sans commercials, one has to wonder what the sponsors will do. And as more viewers turn to the Internet and to digital devices for viewing, a new generation of commercialization has to be put into place.

Shorter but More Frequent Commercial Breaks

The answer for TV sponsors may be found in utilizing shorter but more frequent commercial breaks. The average viewer has figured out the current system of commercials breaks and knows approximately how long and where they will show up. And the average viewer can then plan his bathroom breaks, food runs, chores, etc. around it. Rarely will I even notice the commercials, should I happen to be in the room.

The novelty of breaking up the program with more frequent but shorter commercial breaks will keep the viewer guessing and most likely keep him in front of the TV for fear of missing the next segment. A good example of this is the new Fox sci-fi drama, Fringe. The show uses the shorter commercial breaks. A title card with a warning of how long the break is pops up at the end of a segment. Usually the commercials are 60 seconds. What can a viewer do in a minute but sit through the commercial?

Biggest Benefit: As the viewer, you can enjoy the storyline without major interruptions.

Main Drawback: You'll be back to watching all the commercials again! And sometimes the more frequent breaks can interrupt the flow of the program.

Product Placement

TV sponsors are already resorting to product placement in episodes. It has been happening for years. If the label on the bottle of Coca-Cola in the show is showing, most likely Coke sponsored it.

However, in recent months, the product placement is becoming more blatant. The subtlety is gone. Long shots zooming in on the hood ornament of a car, extended shower scenes in order to keep the shampoo bottle in the center of the screen, etc. Sometimes, they don't even try to hide it. The actors incorporate the name of the product into their dialogue.

Eureka, a comedy on the Sci-Fi channel, is the reigning king for product placement. One episode featured Degree deodorant almost as another character. It should have been since it was used constantly during every flashback to the bathroom scene. In fact, Degree has so completely taken over the show that one of the actors does a commercial for it while in character. It is a clever get on the producer's part. One watches it thinking it is part of the show.

Tear-jerker drama, Army Wives, also bends to major product placement. Ford's mustang, particularly the Warriors in Pink edition, is prominently featured in an episode.

With major product placement, the sponsors will sometimes offer the program with limited commercial interruptions. While you may suffer through blatant commercialization in the show, at least you will not have to watch as many commercials. Sometimes an advertiser will sponsor a season premiere and have no commercials. Generally, they will spend a long time with commercials before and after the show, but at least you get the show without.

Biggest Benefit: You get more show with fewer interruptions.

Main Drawback: If it is blatant product placement, it can be annoying and interrupt the dialogue of the show making it seem awkward.

Webisode Sponsoring

As our culture turns to online and digital devices to download shows at our leisure, sponsors have to find new and creative ways to advertise. Most TV stations, ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, etc. will offer the latest episodes of favorite shows online for viewing. The catch is that you will watch 8-10 commercials that you cannot fast forward through. But the commercials only last around 15-30 seconds.

Hulu.com is a vault of classic and current television episodes. You many not always find your show but the library is constantly growing. In addition to television shows, the NBC based company offers movies. Hulu.com sponsors usually pay for certain episodes or movies. You will watch the same commercial or a variety of commercials from same company. However, the commercials are less than a minute and you will only have about 3 commercials for an hour-long episode. You do not have to download any software to your computer, but do need a high-speed Internet connection. Another benefit of Hulu is the registration. You do not have to register to watch shows but if you do, you can place shows you want to watch in queue so you do not have to go searching for it every time you log on.

Biggest Benefit: Commercials are very short and the convenience outweighs the hassle.

Main Drawback: The quality is not the best. A full screen viewing can be pixilated.

Purchasing Episodes or Season Passes

Downloading episodes off iTunes or Amazon.com is another option for viewers and is often a convenient one. Personally, I like to have a few episodes on my iPod in case I get stuck somewhere with nothing to do but wait. The quality is very good, particularly with iTunes offering episodes in high definition now. Season passes are offered through iTunes for various shows. As they become available, you can download them whenever you have your iPod connected.

However, many do not care to watch a long show or movie on an iPod. The screen, barely a couple of inches big, causes eyestrain. I purchased an Apple composite cable for my TV but it is not cheap. Apple is smart and has put safeguards on their products so you cannot hook your iPod up to your TV with just any old connection. You have to have theirs, unless you are using a later model of iPod.

Biggest Benefit: Absolutely no commercials!

Main Drawback: It costs. iTunes charges $1.99-$2.99 per episode and the TV composite cables cost $49.00.