The truth about TV ad avoidance

The extent to which TV ads are watched has long been a topic of debate. Fears over use of DVRs have been partly allayed by research showing that only a quarter of programmes are time-shifted.

The truth about TV ad avoidance

Mike Hess and Barbara McNamara Carat USA

The industry needs to re-think how TV advertising actually works in today's multi-platform, DVR-based environment where ad clutter may be as big a problem as avoidance

To what extent TV commercials are actually watched has been a topic of US media industry debate since TV went ‘free’ over half a century ago. Statistics such as the estimate that 90 million toilets are flushed during the Super Bowl interval seem to suggest large-scale ad avoidance.

The industry is predicated on the fundamental notion that people do watch...

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