College Football Commercial Break Solution
Larger college football TV rights contracts don't pay for themselves. Unfortunately this is resulting in a larger percentage of broadcasting windows being allocated to commercial breaks and less actual football. Several sports have found clever ways to combat this. Soccer will keep an ad logo in the corner of the screen for an entire half. Other sports will do split-screen ads throughout a broadcast, a few examples are shown below.
Out of curiosity I decided to re-watch the most recent Michigan ass kicking in Columbus to see if I could find 30 second periods throughout the game where Fox could have done a 30 second split screen ad, which could in theory cut down on actual full commercial breaks which have become a real problem the last few years.
In the 1st half alone I counted 8 instances after punts or kickoffs where there was 45 seconds or more where Fox could have snuck in a 30 second split-screen ad prior to the next play beginning. Similarly they could also create quick hitter 15 second ads that could run thoughout the game as well. A combination of a few of these types of in-game ads would be a great alternative to extra full commercial breaks for fans at home and at the game.
MLB just added a pitch count to greatly improve their fans' experiences. It would be great to see college football do the same. Go blue.
Yes please!
This idea makes immense sense and seems obviously beneficial.
Does that mean it will take years to be adopted?
No. It means a moth-eaten version of it that completely defeats the purpose of the original idea will be adopted.
I mean, yeah they'll start doing split-screen ads, but it won't be at the expense of the other ones. Just more ads.
Yep. That would be my concern.
Yes. This. My son is a huge WWE fan. On their cable offerings, there are two times. Times when they have full screen ads and time when they have split screen ads. “No ads” aren’t a thing anymore in there.
They do ads throughout their PPVs now.
They really aren’t pay per views anymore, that’s why.
It's on a paid service. If new episodes of Mandalorian had ads in it I'd be a tad annoyed.
If this would actually mean shorter commercial breaks, I could potentially go for it. The in-person game experience would be dramatically better without the guy in the red hat out there so often.
However, I fear what will happen is the networks will do this on top of the existing commercial breaks. Also, they already miss game action fairly often because they've cut away to something else, like a sideline interview or instant replay.
So, I'm that guy the networks hate - I record everything, ff thru the ads. Even a major game like M-osu I start watching ~10-12 minutes after kickoff. This can have some negative effects occasionally, such as getting multiple 🤬 texts from friends after osu scored so quickly I hadn't even started watching yet last game! But that just makes it more impressive we outscored them 45-16 after the 1st drive!
Watching a lot of golf, which has been using the split screen ads for awhile now, they certainly run more ads in longer blocks with split screen, and have less frequent, shorter blocks of full screen.
That would work great for football with all the downtime after kicks, during reviews, etc. They should start in the pre-season to make sure it works for them.
This guy Markets. That's exactly what they would do.
Wait until the future when sensors will track eye movement to mKe sure you are watching the ads and not skipping them or using the toilet.
I'm already heavily invested into companies that will make "glasses" with "eyes" that will trick the sensors into thinking you're watching the ads.
It's too logical to be implemented.
A very common complaint of fox broadcasts last season was a lack of replays. If they cut to commercial after every play, even the few replays that exist right now will go away.
I think that’s the point. Show the replay on half the screen and a commercial on the other half. With how big most TVs are nowadays, that’s reasonable.
Yeah, but what about people watching on smart phones?
The action replay (and the ad) are likely to be miniscule.
April 13th, 2023 at 10:05 PM ^
Well guess what? You can’t please everyone. The idea would make the TV viewing experience better. And the fans in the stands would have a better experience. The guy watching on his phone? Someone gets the short end.
You realize that you've just created a "both/and" situation in which we're still going to get the breaks like usual plus the additional split screen / windowed ad treatment, right?
then i look forward to getting those incremental ad revenue commission checks in the mail!
Just wait until we have to click through all of the pop-up ads just to get to the broadcast itself, in addition to the breaks, in addition to the split-screen ads.
Just think of all the ad revenue!!!!
Yes, we likely will get both/and but the reality is that with the yearly fee to broadcast football costs skyrocketing, commercials are going to go somewhere. So in a world where we have to choose between even longer and/or more frequent breaks than we have now or one where we get some split screen ads, give me the split screen.
Only if by conference the broadcast rights holders were forced to cut back the three minute (or longer) commercial breaks to two minutes or less.
Im in favor of anything that prevents FULL MEDIA TIMEOUT, kick-off, FULL MEDIA TIMEOUT, injury, followed by, you guessed it, a FULL MEDIA TIMEOUT. Don't remember the game, but it was very cold out, and I was pretty much done with that damn timeout clock. The official even quit announcing the full media timeouts due to the crowd booing him.
I'll take anything at this point. The in-person experience is awful with all the commercials. Heck even getting together with the local alumni club to watch it is getting to be a 5+ hour commitment when I add in driving there and back.
UNCWolverine.... Fox Broadcasting HQ is located at:
10201 W Pico Blvd
Bldg. 1003220
Los Angeles, CA
I will start a fund raiser within' the community to get you there.... We should have the funds in a week. You have 1 week to put together a presentation that no one can say NO to.....
This is your mission, if you choose to accept it.
sweet, ill start to pack now.
LA? As Winston told John Wick I hope to see you back at sunrise.
Unfortunately, unless they start to perceive that long ad breaks are negatively impacting viewer numbers, in all likelihood if they implemented these suggested options, they would do it while retaining the current number of ad breaks and not reduce them at all. They aren't interested in swapping one set of revenue for another, they are focused on growth and raking in as much revenue as possible.
The people I watch M games with have all resolved to start 45 minutes to an hour and a half later and FF through the ad breaks and halftime in order to cut down on the mindless drivel and repetition of the advertising.
I have YouTube TV set to "save" all NCAA football and basketball games, so if I/we decide to watch another game, same rule applies, but the whole experience just makes me about 70% less likely to watch a non-M game that I'm not directly invested in.
The whores, er, I mean, the conference commissioners could solve this once and for all by limiting the amount of commercial interruptions per game so that the sky is not the limit. If the networks won't agree to reasonable limits, then no contract.
Of course this will reduce the amount of broadcast rights they can get. So they will never do it and they will eventually kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
Absolutely!
I upvoted because there's a story here. Something about this thread made you log in and increase your points from 1 to 2, after 14 years of near-total silence. And just one word. This could be Siddhartha-esque in its brevity, yet profound beyond comparison.
The NFL figured it out, and dialed back the commercial breaks (most significantly the TD-break-KO-break abomination). You can count on games fitting into the 3:20 window, usually under 3:10.
College keeps adding commercials. I think it's part of the constant race going on with the conferences, a sign of competition. Networks feel they lose so much if they lose live football that they pay too much for a major conference contract. Games do not fit in 3:30 windows, and that's because of the extra breaks.
Would in-game ads take some pressure off? Sure. But advertisers want attention. If they can't have your eye focus, they will want you listening. So either the ads are so obnoxious that you might as well still be in break, or they won't pay much for them.
Soccer-style logo ads on the sidelines? A little box on the score overlay? Sure. I wish they'd try it if it meant they could reduce the ad load. Split-screens and interruptions between plays? No. Absolutely not. I want full-screen replays, without some shill trying to get my attention.
The split-screen idea would only keep more eye balls on the ads. So many people leave the couch during commercial breaks or fast forward if on delay. This idea would esure that viewers are watching as they won't want to miss any of the games.
There are apparently (and it's been a while since I read about it, I could have it wrong) studies at ad agencies where they track the eye movements of volunteers as they watch test ads. They want the eyeball on the product logo. Why use millions of dollars to tell a story if people don't even remember what product is being sold. With today's bigger screens, that's even more important.
The fast-forward is a good point, but ad space on sporting events sells for multiple times beyond other events because most people do not DVR sporting events. If this is an important distinction, then why have commercial breaks at all? Just use the soccer model.
Are the people that leave the couch returning at the right time? Are they captive to the game anyway? I handle the issue by watching with the sound off, have a television in my office, focus on the computer during breaks. Otherwise I couldn't handle all the breaks - only so many trips to the fridge and bathroom one can make in three hours (especially with beer ads gone now). So I'm looking at a smaller screen across a room and the split-screen doesn't work all that well for tracking the game.
There's no ideal solution, I guess. For me, the split-screen ads would be a breaking point - I'd stop watching if they became frequent. But I might not be an important viewer at all because I keep the sound off and I'm older (and stopped drinking beer decades ago anyway).
Advertisers LOVE the split screen as their message can be seen among those watching recordings. Food advertisers with delivery services could drive in-game ordering from that same placement. it’s actually very valuable space so hopefully we’ll see more of this when the next contract begins.
MLB went to a pitch clock to speed up games because they were losing too many people with 3 1/2 hour games. It seems the same pain hasn't hit the networks yet with college football. We're the victims of the popularity of the game, I guess.
More specifically ..... MLB was losing viewers to the in-game action (or lack thereof). The commercial breaks weren't too long for the MLB viewer, but the in-game dickering around was.
CFB has the opposite problem. The in-game action is still appealing. So much so that the commercial breaks can be extended and extended and extended .............
There is a wonderful invention called the DVR. I haven’t watched a commercial since 2002
I know it won't be popular but I would rather have a commercial free UM Football game in addition to the one with commercial, if I have to pay 10 dollars a game. Money worth spent.
I completely agree. Especially if I have 5 friends over and we all pitch in $2.
I'm not in advertising, but I'm sure someone in this community is and can answer my concern. With ads displayed during Live Action, can the networks charge as much compared to a full 15 or 30 second traditional commercial?
If you can't charge as much, I guess you would just increase the Live Action ads to make up the revenue gap.
I'd love an advertising pro's opinion on this!
Just about to celebrate 28 years in media/marketing/advertising.
I'd think that you could get a premium for Live Action ads...as the viewers will be more engaged and less likely to be doing things that many of us do during commercial breaks...like go to the bathroom, refresh snacks/drinks, mute the TV, talk to the people with whom we are watching the game, etc.
They'll start doing those soon enough!
Along with the ad breaks.
I would be in favor of this and if that's not enough to reduce the media timeouts then go with digital ads like I've seen during hockey and baseball games.
At some point the person in charge of entertaining the fans inside the stadium will run out of things to do. I can't wait until everyone inside Michigan Stadium is playing the largest rock, paper, scissors game anywhere in America today. The dog they have catching frisbees will get tired, also.
Easy solution. Have Kirk Herbstreet announce from a brand new Buick Enclave, drink some amazing and fresh Mich Ultra and talk about it during the broadcast, wearing a Liberty Mutual headband or hat (#kirkschoice) and ironic mustache, also wearing State Farm and Allstate wrist bands and a suit coat designed solely by Farmers.
He should smile a lot, because his grill will be repping Applebee's.
Then, just do the amazing and popular split screen that they did for Michigan's spring game. Commercials are now unnecessary.
Boom. ESPN doesn't even have to pay me for this advice.
There are more obvious times where this can and should be done. A lot of others aren't as predictable and would be hard to achieve because you only know you had the 3p second gap after or soon before the time is up.
I'd rather they do a bit of this and then more planned, in-game ads kn this style. It's just the cutting away that kills most people.
In stadium it can't be fixed. It kills the flow when at the game and it just stops for 3-4 minutes. That is what it is. TV viewers could be helped a lot by doing more on-screen ads.
As long as they are managed correctly this is the best solution. I would just hate for it to be a split screen ad being played 5 seconds later than needed & the offense running a play during it. For example imagine if all of our Edwards highlights being in split screen.
Will the red hat be on the field for these? If so will it be the same where the offense can’t line up and snap the ball once his hand is down? Some details to be ironed out but if this takes away from Noon games ending past 4:00, sign me up!
From the network's perspective, the paid for commercial has priority, so they'd rather give us half a play than piss off or refund a sponsor.
If they'd do what you are proposing in lieu of inconvenient commercial breaks that would be nice, but they will instead just tack it on top of what they are doing already. (Anything is better than those annoying small animated network show promos they had popping out of the lower third for a few years, which thankfully seemed to have disappeared).
They keep trying to change rules to speed up the game, but in reality what has slowed the game down (besides more passing and incomplete passes) is more and longer commercial breaks. It seems like in the 60's and 70's commercial breaks were only one minute; then they were two; now, especially on Fox, they are three minutes, or longer. (Why anyone sponsor would want to pay for an ad sandwiched between four or five others is beyond me
I wish they would cut them back to 90 seconds to two minutes for most breaks, and do them when there is a stoppage of play for injuries, instant replay reviews, and come back when the issue has been resolved and they're almost ready for play.