CNN using commercial countdown clocks
Don Day November 8th, 2007
Cable news channels are famous for their countdown clocks. Ticking down the time until debates… elections… MSNBC even had a clock counting down to the start of the OJ hearing today.
Inside Cable News notes that CNN is now using a clock on some of its commercial breaks… letting you know precisely how much time until the clutter ends, and the content begins. This is likely due to the new commercial ratings - and is a very different way to try and discourage commercial skipping. Click here for a screen grab.
4 Comments Add your own
1. Safran | November 8th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I like the idea. I wonder how the advertisers feel about a device that, essentially, says “You only have this much longer to sit through our crap before the show continues…”
Although, I’ve seen some shows that could stand to have countdown clocks to the commercial break.
2. Mark Mascolino | November 8th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
i’m positive on the idea as well but then again I think the show rundown and clock on PTI is sheer genius so I perhaps have some bias.
3. thedetroitchannel | November 9th, 2007 at 1:09 am
Saf, advertisers generally don’t like anything on the screen other than the ad, because it can distract from the message or just interfere with the artistic vision of the ad. That’s also why in magazines, the page numbers are often missing from the full-page ads.
But when I’m watching a show on abc.com, I actually pay more attention to the ads, partly because I’m keenly focused on the screen already, even if that focus is centered on the countdown clock. I still get the message better, because my attention is intently fixed at the screen.
And I think the message I get is more, “It’s only 14 more seconds till the show returns, so chill. Don’t bother channel-surfing or going to the kitchen, just sit tight for a few seconds and the show will be back.”
PS: I’m not thedetroitchannel.
4. thedetroitchannel | November 9th, 2007 at 5:30 am
I’m not, either.
But I do wonder what advertisers think of this and whether they argued for lower rates when it was initiated.
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