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Television Commercials

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Author: Jude

Way back when, according to my sources, when television commercials came on, you had time to EITHER (A) go to the bathroom; or (B) get a soda out of the fridge. The commercial break wasn't long enough to do both.

The first television commercial ever aired was on July 1, 1941. There was a 20-second commercial broadcast for Bulova Watch Company.

The commercial was shown just before a baseball game (Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies). Bulova paid $9.00 for the advertisement. That happened in New York City (where else?). The NBC affiliate WNBT aired the commercial spot, which consisted of a picture of a Bulova watch over a map of the United States and there was a voice-over of the Bulova slogan, "America runs on Bulova time!"

It, of course, didn't take the world of commerce long to recognize the value of television advertisements. An entire multibillion-dollar industry has developed over the years not only to dream up the television advertisements, but to dream up advertisements that will keep people from hitting the mute button on their remotes.

Back in the 1960s, when television viewing had become common and most households owned at least one television set, an hour-long program consisted on 51 minutes of program and 9 minutes of commercials. Today that same hour-long television slot consists of 42 minutes of program and 18 minutes of commercials. It's as bad for those half-hour time slots. There are only 22 minutes of program and 8 minutes of commercials.

Filming a television commercial can be as simple as a spokesman and pictures of the products, to as extensive as the use of stuntmen and special effects. Theories of the best use of commercial airtime have varied greatly over the years. At the moment, it is deemed advisable to air short 15-second commercials four times in a commercial break than to air a one-minute commercial only once.









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