TV Ad Clutter “Worse Than Ever”, Reports Media Life

Ad clutter has long been one of the pet peeves of media people,  reports Media Life. They believe, and studies have borne this out, continues the Media Life report, “that the more ads that are smashed into a commercial break, the less people will pay attention.”

The Media Life story, in part, also stated:

“A client’s message can become lost amidst the noise as ad after ad unspools.

“So it seems counterintuitive, at a time when TV networks are struggling to keep buyers’ attention amidst a flood of new media options, that TV clutter is going up.

“Yet it is, to historically high levels.

“Kantar Media reports that during second quarter of this year, both cable and broadcast saw significant gains in commercial time, which is as high as it’s ever been.

“Minutes of paid ad time for broadcast networks went up 2.8 percent over the same time last year, while cable was up even more sharply, by 4.6 percent.

“The decline in ad spending on TV has made the networks panicky. They’re stuffing more spots into programs in an attempt to offset lower ratings and avoid revenue declines.

“And advertisers are suffering.”