24 June 2010 - 10:28The Demise of the 30 Second Commercial

It’s starting in Amsterdam. Touted as being a city with respectable and creative ad agencies, ‘Dam is leading the pack with doing away with the traditional 30 second TV spot.

Over the past decade there has been an evolving transition from TV commercials to internet video ads. With the internet medium, there are no limitations with time, content, etc. There have also been some examples of TV commercials that break the :30 rule. Recently, in the midst of the World Cup hooplah, Adidas has aired a 2-minute commercial spoofing a scene from Star Wars, including Snoop Dogg as Luke Skywalker, and David Beckham narrowly escaping murder.

Some brands have used a lengthy broadcast to their advantage, by airing episodic commercials throughout. In between TV shows, there was a love story to follow. One of the more successful examples of this was back in the 90′s in England, in a campaign for Taster’s Choice coffee. Two British actors starred in a love story centered around their passion for the coffee, and was a fairly successful and memorable campaign in the UK.

The death of TV commercials would likely mean the death of TV as a whole.

Bottom line: the traditional 30 second TV spot is on its way out. With the internet, there are many more opportunities, and options, as far as interactivity goes, etc. The obvious drawback to this is that people will only be viewing/engaging with the content if they so choose. The good thing about TV (at least, before TiVo and DVR) was that if you were watching a TV show, the commercials were there. However, with the rise of DVR and Hulu and whatever other commercial-escaping capabilities, the TV commercial is becoming less effective and irreverent.

• Do you think the traditional 30 second TV ad is on it’s way out?
• Is the internet the venue of the future?
• How might mobile technology not only come in to play, but change the game?