Why is more better than less commercial

Fox touted at its upfront presentation in early May that it will have fewer second ads on some new shows on its cable networks FX and National Geographic Channel. It will also experiment with less time on Fox, something it has tried since Currently, its top show "Empire" runs with fewer commercials than its other shows.

On the other hand, over the past year or so Fox has unveiled more initiatives like Fox Sports Engage, which disseminates branded content on social and TV. It's also experimented with folding in advertisers into shows, including a storyline on "Empire" about creating a Pepsi commercial. Earlier in March, it announced it would launch the NBCU Content Studio to develop and produce branded content using the company's proprietary data. For example, the company launched a cross-show ad experience in April to promote both Chrysler's Pacifica and Universal's movie "The Secret Life of Pets.

And, Variety reported that Viacom would cut its primetime ad time from 17 to 18 minutes per hour to 14 to 15 minutes in September Velocity's productions end up on digital, including Snapchat channels or Facebook pages. It also creates TV-length content or materials that end up on TV. Red Bull worked with "Workaholics" stars on Comedy Central.

Still, while the commercial may fade away, Turner's Riess admits most brands still opt for that model for now. Skip Navigation. And the use of stop-motion animation makes it eye-catchingly disjointed and artsy. Eventually, the video draws you in. Notice how it waits until the very last second to provide information about the brand or product and, when it does, the information is minimal—the brand and url for Target.

Display advertising in Times Square in Manhattan is a good example — only already strong brands have a chance of making an impression in such a noisy environment, and it will likely be a weak one.

In such instances, however, there may be solution — viral advertising, but not the standard way. Few categories have commercials that are as highly skipped as batteries. People are just not interested in what many perceive to be a commodity. Yet, Duracell managed to make a battery advertisement into a viral sensation with almost 16 million views on YouTube alone 12 million in just two weeks.

My research shows just what a jackpot this was: less than 0. The ad has a lot going against it. It starts slow. It shows the Duracell brand early on after only 30 seconds! And it stars Kevin Jorgeson, a mountainclimber unknown to most Americans. So how did Duracell do it? In effect, this approach transforms viral from earned media into a form of paid media. In the case of the Jorgeson ad, Duracell got the ad in the hands of mountain climbers and outdoors enthusiasts as a way to engage them to help distribute the video to their acquaintances and followers.

Mountain climbing has a strong culture with trusted sources of expertise. If you receive a video shared from one of these influencers, chances are you will be more open to sitting through the 90 seconds, even after you see a Duracell brand a third of the way through. For advertising to work, it has to attract attention before it does anything else.

Marketers should start their media buying strategy by understanding the attention potential of each media and context—only then will they know how much time and effort to spend on each step. You have 1 free article s left this month. You are reading your last free article for this month. Subscribe for unlimited access. Create an account to read 2 more. Context is key. Read more on Marketing or related topic Marketing industry. Thales S. Teixeira is the co-founder of Decoupling.

Previously he was a professor at Harvard Business School for ten years. Partner Center.