How TV ads will survive the post-TiVo era (Hint: the networks are already doing it)

The fate of the 30-second spot in the post- TiVo world is quite the hot topic. The New York Times thinks it will survive by narrowly targeting audiences. Douglas Rushkoff thinks it will be replaced by sponsored programming. Product-placement company NextMedium thinks it will be supplanted by... wait for it... product placement. My brother, Chief Marketing Officer for Fireman's Fund, thinks it will need to get a lot more entertaining.

Fox has the opposite idea. They think it needs to get a lot more boring.

U.K. advertisements for Fox's new drama, "Brotherhood," which premieres in Britain in October, simply shows an image of Providence, R.I., where the show is set, and the program's logo... Viewers fast-forwarding through the ad would see the image for a few seconds; those watching it normally would hear dialogue from the show in the background.

What Fox may not realize is that, by doing so, they are merely bringing television advertising full circle:

On July 1, 1941, the New York television station WNBT-TV interrupted its normal viewing to show, without comment, a Bulova watch ticking. For sixty seconds the watch ticked away mysteriously, then the picture faded and normal programming resumed. It wasn’t much, but it was the first television commercial. --Bill Bryson, Made in America

Anyway, the idea that Fox has is to make a TV spot that is intelligible to DVR users yet of interest to non-. I have not seen this spot, but I get the feeling it will fail on the second count. Television ads depend on catching one's attention, and a static image for 30 seconds is not going to cut it, unless that's some kick-ass dialogue.

Look after the jump for ideas that would work...

I've discussed variations on this idea with others. My colleague Adam had the idea of a regular commercial containing a slow-motion mini-commercial in the corner, which would read normally to fast-forwarders. I had a similar idea, except that the entire commercial would run in slow-motion, which would serve to intrigue regular viewers:

Comments

[Dr. Luminesence]

I totally agree with your predictions. You are like some sage staring at us from the future, and it is frightening.

[Krzysztof]

Excellent article. Interesting subject.

[jenn]

Funny - I was just ranting on the little bottom corner ads a few moments ago. It drives me up the wall that my entertainment is being bombarded with commercials.

it's not going to stop, is it?

[sklep]

I totally agree with your predictions.

How long do you think until someone's going to be able to sell that unused space for ads?

really good.