After making dinner on Thursday night, I sat down to watch
an episode of “The Big Bang Theory”. The
“Big Bang Theory is a comedy show on TV 38.
I had a lot of homework that night so I was only going to watch one
episode which is approximately thirty minutes long with commercials. Overall approximately nine minutes was
commercials and twenty one minutes was the actual show. Approximately one third of my leisure time
was wasted by Dunkin Donuts commercials, tissue commercials and car
commercials. Many of these commercials
are always on TV and sometimes even on back to back. The amount of commercials on TV channels is outrageous. Usually I switch
channels when the commercials are on but other TV channels are also on a commercial break.
The amount of time wasted by advertisements is ridiculous.
The “Big Bang Theory” started at exactly 7:00. The first
commercial break started at 7:12 and ended at 7:17. A few commercials
were an Angus Steak sandwich commercial, a Scotties tissues
commercial, a pumpkin latte commercial, a Hyundai car
commercial, a L'Oreal hair commercial and a Viva towel commercial. Both the Angus Steak sandwich commercial and the pumpkin latte commercial was from Dunkin Donuts and were played multiple times. There was another commercial break from 7:24
to 7:28 and this break had a Ford truck commercial, a Marshall Store
commercial, an Arnold
bread commercial and a Honda CR-V car commercial. I only listed a few commercials but there was a lot more. Each commercial was around 15 to 30 seconds
long.
I noticed that the amount of advertisements on TV has
increased a lot in the past few years and I am not surprised that these
commercials wasted 10 minutes of my time.
I believe that TV channels are supported by advertisements. I also believe that TV channels profit from advertisements only if that channel attracts many viewers. Companies will pay more to
advertise their products on channels with higher ratings and a bigger audience. When TV channels attract a lot viewers companies will pay more money to advertise their product on that particular channel. This is how I think television channels make money. These channels put on shows with high ratings
to attract viewers so companies will pay more money advertise on that
channel. I think that TV channels are trying to entertain us and by doing so these channels profit from advertisements.
Thanks Vincent, you capture the issue well. Yes, it does seem noteworthy that during our typical night-time television viewing, about 1/3 of our time is consumed by ads. The only way I have found to avoid ads is to use the DVR function and fast forward through videos. Of course, this is an expensive option.
ReplyDeleteLet me quickly point out a stylistic weakness of your post. You write two sentences that end, "is outrageous" and "is ridiculous." This is really weak. What does "outrageous" and "ridiculous" mean? These are subjective terms with not real value to anyone. To compare something to a subjective adjective is not a method for making a strong argument. Remember what Twain says in Puddn'head Wilson: "As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out."