ITV - No advertising!!

[Barney_Tabasco]

I don't generally watch ITV but for some reason it's just been on in the house a few times this week and i've noticed nearly all shows we watched had NO ads in them!! They had ad breaks but they were just filled with ITV-own ads, and this was prime-time!

I do know things are bad right now and advertising spend is down a huge amount but how can it survive on ZERO advertising??

They always fill it with that 3 minute long montage of DIRE ITV shows hoping to gain viewers which in turn should lure advertisers but seriously, that clip is so awful. Badly edited, cringeworthy and full of crap shows!

[Robby]

I've noticed this too. Was there even any non-ITV related ads during TV Burp tonight?

Seems a bit weird.

[Bapapapa]

The last series of TV Burp had no 'proper' ads either.. bit strange really as that was pre-credit crunch.. maybe it's a difficult slot to fill.. oo-er, etc.

[degeneration]

I don't watch ITV at all, but shows on FXHD haven't been showing ads either.

[Neil B]

That struck me once when I was watching Breaking Bad on FX, I was suprised it followed straight on from Burn Notice with no break.

[Alan b]

I was suprised it followed straight on from Burn Notice with no break.

What some channels do now is pack in the adverts during the program so at the end the next one starts straight away. Channels like Hallmark operate in this way as do channels in the US.

[GProject]

The last series of TV Burp had no 'proper' ads either.. bit strange really as that was pre-credit crunch.. maybe it's a difficult slot to fill.. oo-er, etc.
TV Burp has always been notorious for this - I'm not sure why, but even with critical praise the show has struggled to find advertisers.

[Fatbloke]

You're right though - I'm watching the "Now that's what I call 1983" at the moment. Aside from the sponsor "bumper" there's only adverts for ITV related stuff. Perhaps ITV are getting money from the production firms to show their stuff instead of the other way around. They can't be making any money from themselves.

I wonder if Corrie still has proper ads.

[Barney_Tabasco]

You could be right actually. 'Now that's what i call utter crap' was blatantly made by the record company then sold to ITV, maybe the deal asked for no ads. Did that Divas 2 bobbins have any ads? That was heavily promoted during 'Now...'; wonder if it was same record company production.

Maybe the sponsors of TV shows are doing a 'buy out' for ITV to show no other ads during their shows.

As for FX, it's probably because no one watches it ;) (i do by the way, one of the best channels out there. Shame it's not 16:9).

[GProject]

Maybe the sponsors of TV shows are doing a 'buy out' for ITV to show no other ads during their shows.
Likely, as ITV are probably using buy outs as an incentive for keeping advertisers on board right now.

Advertising really does look to be in trouble - it'll never stop dead, but the losses from a slowdown would still be significant.

[zantarous]

As for FX, it's probably because no one watches it ;) (i do by the way, one of the best channels out there. Shame it's not 16:9).

It is the HD version which has no adds the regular FX channel has them in abundance.

[hedgie]

Can't be down to the lack of advertisers - they'll always be able to shift a spot in a programme at a low enough price, otherwise tiny channels on satellite wouldn't get advertising.

I understood that the reason for this was the rules around the number of advert breaks / hours of adverts that ITV are allowed in the evening. I think that they are able to 'borrow' time from less popular programmes and shift it to the more popular ones within a certain time period. TV Burp may be a very popular programme, but it isn't as popular as X Factor and I'm a Celebrity, so its ad-breaks have been 'robbed' to be used later in the evening. Of course, ITV have programmes designed around ad-breaks and there are no regulations on them advertising themselves, so we have to be subjected to rubbish ad's proclaiming how wonderful ITV aren't instead.

[campdave]

i think its a great thing, as long as people dont advertise on ITV. Then that in turn will produce the result of ITV coming off the air, now that never going to hurt anybody (help if anything!!!)
Victor

You do realise you can just not watch it don't you?

[lunarleo]

You're right though - I'm watching the "Now that's what I call 1983" at the moment. Aside from the sponsor "bumper" there's only adverts for ITV related stuff. Perhaps ITV are getting money from the production firms to show their stuff instead of the other way around...
Or there was subtle product-placement for synthesizers and drum machines.


(I'll get me coat)

[TheoGB]

What some channels do now is pack in the adverts during the program so at the end the next one starts straight away. Channels like Hallmark operate in this way as do channels in the US.

This is the US method, isn't it? It's pretty annoying.

[joconnor]

You do realise you can just not watch it don't you?

If only....

Seeing as they have exclusive rights to a lot of football you have no choice but to watch it in pixeltasticvision that would put youtube to shame.

I'm not saying I hope they go under, just that they don't have enough cash to bid for the football when it's renewal time.

[Alan b]

This is the US method, isn't it? It's pretty annoying.

I can't remember what channel it was (and perhaps they are all like it, I'm not sure) but one I was watching when I was in the US last year packed in so many adverts during the program that went it came to the end credits they did a split screen, on the left the credits would go up, while on the right the next program was starting. Hopefully we will never see anything like that over here.

[GProject]

I can't remember what channel it was (and perhaps they are all like it, I'm not sure) but one I was watching when I was in the US last year packed in so many adverts during the program that went it came to the end credits they did a split screen, on the left the credits would go up, while on the right the next program was starting. Hopefully we will never see anything like that over here.
Okay, so that's a little extreme. However, I'm really surprised we haven't gone down the American route of pushing programme changeovers together without adverts.

From an broadcasters view, it just makes so much sense. Most viewers are lost during those 'down times' between programmes - so why even give them the chance? If the end of one show leads straight into the next, then you're already technically 'watching' whatever the second show is, and the urge to flick over is dramatically reduced.

I always thought the UK would start doing this, but we've resisted it for so long.

[DVDWotcha]

I noticed it too, but then I watch everything on my V+ box so I've not watched adverts for over a year now. I was watching "I'm a celeb..." last night and decided to watch a few ads just to see what I've been missing. Not a lot apparently.