Say whaaat!?!

Imagine that you’re watching your favourite primetime television show at 8pm on a Wednesday night and the events unfolding onscreen are so ridiculous and interesting that you’re sitting on the edge of your couch clinging onto each word of dialogue. As soon as the plot is about to unfold or a character is about to reveal a secret detremental to the future of the show: COMMERCIAL BREAK. Everyone can let out a universal sigh or grunt of frusteration as we’ve all experienced the woes of inconvenient and pesky advertisements. We can almost make the assumption that we find commercials a waste of time and that we’d much prefer to watch our primetime shows in peace without disturbance of “As Seen on TV” products, fast food commercials, old people acting overly happy and the like. 

Going off topic for a little bit, my favourite commercials to hate on would have to be:

1. The “Oxi Clean” commercial- Seriously, what is the guy’s deal? He yells too much and he could pass as a model on a men’s beard dye box.
2. The “My Little Reminder” commercial- “Oh, no. Where did I park my car?” Instead of using their hard earned money on a crappy audio recorder, those sad little people could have invested their money in acting lessons.
3. The “Proactive” commercial- Z-list celebrities rambling on about their clear skin baffles me. Shouldn’t they be more worried about why their career is in the mud?

Back on topic. Like I mentioned before, we can all assume that advertisements are not only annoying, but pointless, right? Wrong. Researchers at the NYU Stern School of Business have determined in a new study that viewers find television programs more enjoyable when they are watched with commercials. That’s right. Researchers Leif D. Nelson at the University of California- Rady School of Management as well as Tom Meyvis and Jeff Galak at the NYU Stern School of Business have confirmed this.  Their study found that although viewers prefer to avoid commercial advertisements, that their experience in watching a television show was higher when commercials were included.

The study found that:

People often adapt to the experience of watching television such that each successive minute is slightly less enjoyable than the previous one. Advertisements, although independently aversive, disrupt this adaptation process and can therefore make the overall experience more enjoyable.

Now I know what you might be thinking. “I hate commercials, how could this be true?” The study said:

A disruption in a suspenseful plotline might heighten anticipation and intensify its subsequent resolution. Similarly, commercials may offer opportunities to elaborate on what viewers have watched so far or to savor what is still to come.

I’m not sure what this means to all of you, but I can relate to this.  When watching an intense television show with friends, during the commercial break we catch each other up and talk about what has just happened. It also heightens the excitement when the commercials are over and the show is back on.

It is important to point out though, that it’s not the content of the commercials that heighten enjoyment, it is the fact that they are present during the time slot.

It’s certainly interesting to think that commercial advertisements, not only do they push you to buy a certain product, they also happen to heighten the enjoyment of the television program.  I’ll take this into consideration the next time I’m watching LOST (which happens to be airing tonight!). No matter how unbearable the commercial breaks might be, I’ll be appreciative of the show (as well as equally confused, as LOST does to everyone). I’ll keep you posted.

Peace & love

Rach

 

Source: Nelson, Leif D., Meyvis, Tom and Galak, Jeff,Enhancing the Television-Viewing Experience through Commercial Interruptions(2009). Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 36, August 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1007767