TV Commercials in America

[night]

Why are commercials so loud, repetitive and frequent in the US? If you sequentially flip through all of your channels on your cable network at any moment, you'll realize that roughly 2/3rds or even 3/4ths of the channels are displaying a commercial that you've probably seen for the hundredth time. No wonder people get DVRs and resort to things like downloading a commercial-free version of their favorite shows a few hours or days later.
I understand that commercials are essential to sponsor the shows we're watching but their frequency, duration and loudness is beyond frustrating and is such a major turn-off. I honestly prefer to watch a "decent" show with a few commercial interruptions than a "great" show bombarded with commercial interruptions.
What do you think?

 

[Ubik Valis]

What do you expect from a country so thoroughly owned by private interest? (Not to say that other countries are an exception to this, it's just a matter of degree...)

 

[Theodorakis]

the thing they teach at college, marketing and stuff, you know what it is like.. it creates stereotypes like that.. same in my country as well..

 

[ShiftyPowers]

I'm used to it. MTV in the early/mid-90s was the worst offender. Their "30 minute" programs were probably 17 minutes tops and there was usually one commercial break that hit like 7 minutes.

 

[MaestroZidane]

^^That's still true for all programs.. And Although I love american football, it is the same reason my interest in it is starting to fall. DVR has been able to maintain it at a reasonable level, but having to fast forward after every other play does get to you.

 

[Mandieta6]

That's true for most non-cable channels in Spain, too. The only show I watch that isn't on cable, and I watch it every day, has maybe a half an hour of commercials, all of which I've seen. Admittedly, the same is generally true for most channels, but the commercials are shorter, less frequent, and occasionally good.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Football is awesome, how dare you guys level any criticism at all.

 

[newbie original]

that's why I stopped going to college games ... game time is 4 quarters of 15 minutes, yet the thing runs 3 hours ... even accommodating for the brief half-time break (12 minutes?), the clock stopping at the end of certain plays, and a few time-outs taken by each team, there is no way it would add 2 hours without commercials ... standing there in the stadium, knowing that the only reason the game isn't continuing is because TV land is showing commercials just seemed too ridiculous for me to keep going ...

An average NBA game is 4 quarters ....15 minutes each and it lasts 2.5 hours.
An average baseball game(9 innings) probably takes around 3 to 3.5 hours.
An average NHL game is 3 periods .....20 minutes each and also lasts around 2.5 hours.
An average rugby game....80 minutes....probably takes around 2 hours(120 minutes).

 

[ShiftyPowers]

An average NBA game is 4 quarters ....15 minutes each and it lasts 2.5 hours.

12

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Poor guy, you have to drink beer and talk to your friends. The horror!

 

[MaestroZidane]

Football is awesome, how dare you guys level any criticism at all.

Panthers just had an awful season (even though it's not over).. Even more reason to criticize football

 

[::shinji::]

if you watch SpikeTV late at night you see the same commercial for "Girls Gone Wild!" literally every ten minutes

 

[Bobby]

Panthers just had an awful season (even though it's not over).. Even more reason to criticize football

They're a nightmare to watch when Jake plays. It's the same play with the same result over and over and over.

 

[Back Door Skip]

if you watch SpikeTV late at night you see the same commercial for "Girls Gone Wild!" literally every ten minutes

Or Comedy Central.

 

[Scout FC]

Why are commercials so loud, repetitive and frequent in the US?

The volume thing has to do with advertisers reaching their audience who have gotten up during the break to go to the kitchen or bathroom. So they can still be heard.

That one pisses me off the most. It's my TV so please allow me to set the volume as I see fit.

 

[night]

The volume thing has to do with advertisers reaching their audience who have gotten up during the break to go to the kitchen or bathroom. So they can still be heard.

That one pisses me off the most. It's my TV so please allow me to set the volume as I see fit.

I read somewhere that Japan are actually manufacturing TVs that somehow normalize the volume so that you don't have to lower the volume for commercials then up it again when they're over. I see this essential feature these days.

 

[msdlou]

Yikes! Pretty soon, we'll have holograms walking next to our bed and yelling at ears, "HEY SLEEPY-HEAD!" as an advertisement for energy drinks.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

The volume thing has to do with advertisers reaching their audience who have gotten up during the break to go to the kitchen or bathroom. So they can still be heard.

That one pisses me off the most. It's my TV so please allow me to set the volume as I see fit.

Yeah that sucks. I've heard that the FCC has regulations and technically commercials aren't supposed to do that, but clearly isn't not something that gets enforced.