Turning something you love into something you’ll loathe – TV ads are about to get worse

We’ve all sat there watching the TV on the edge of our seats waiting for our favourite character’s next line, then all of a sudden…it’s an ad. It’s over in about 3 minutes and you’re back to watching your show. No sooner have you got into the plot again when you’re again interrupted by an ad for a cleaning product or ‘The Voice’. Unfortunately, TV broadcasters are now planning on making this familiar situation even worse, that’s right – as if 15 minutes of ads an hour wasn’t enough, they want you to see more.

This week The Australian reported that the competing broadcasters have demanded to increase advertisements per hour from 15 minutes to 20 minutes. That’s an ad break for every 3 minutes you watch. Watching commercial television seems to be more of a chore than a joy when channels just want to thrust more ads and ideas into our heads so we spend, spend, spend or watch, watch, watch (inevitably so we can see the same ads again, spend and so on). Even if the standard ads are over, it’s not long before another ad jumps in at the top or bottom of the screen to tell you about yet another show or product they’re flogging. And muting does nothing to get rid of garish splash promos either.

At a time where the younger generation are turning to less conventional means to see their favourite shows (read: illegal downloads), you would think that television stations would be listening to their viewers. One such example I can think of is ‘A Place To Call Home’ which was axed despite a large following in place of more rubbish reality shows that are basically just ads with a program listing – you’re not fooling anyone!

The other day I was shocked to go on Channel 9’s website to find a clip from my favourite show, Midsomer Murders, only to have unskippable ads show up every few minutes just like it would on the TV. No wonder our grandkids are going to extreme lengths to download shows from overseas, they don’t get the ads and can actually watch a show in peace like you used to be able to.

While I like watching TV, sometimes I think it might be better for me if I just sat down with a book, especially when broadcasters are ignoring the public and forging ahead with nuisance ads for shows you don’t want to watch, no matter how many times they tell you that you should!

What do you still watch on live television? Will longer ads mean you will watch TV less? Share your thoughts in the comments.