Quote
IowaRam
The average one hour network TV show has 15 minutes of commercials , and the average one hour show on a cable network average 17 minutes of commercials
Fox wants to cut that down to just 2 minutes of commercials for every hour of programming
With so many streaming services out there now , most people just stream a show and binge watch , and the network channels are quite aware of this and are losing viewers in droves
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www.wsj.com]
Watching Netflix shows demonstrates that. And while the increase wasn't exactly linear, it does seem in general to have gone up and up the more years pass by. The old sitcoms from the 1960s, for instance, were in the 23-25 minute range, and now generally run in the 21 minute range. Hour shows follow that pattern too. And they used to have more shows per year.
This follows a pattern across the board for consumers. Bugs me a ton, too. Candy bars are smaller; yogurt cups have lost nearly 3 ounces; icecream went from 64 to 48 ounces . . . and prices went up. I think that's pretty sleazy. It's like corporations are hoping we just don't notice.
Throw in the fact that they're also managing to get us to do more and more of the work ourselves, and we the consumers are losing the battle. That "more work" thing probably started with self-serve gas stations, then onto ATMs, grocery check outs, managing your own accounts online, etc. etc.
Time for a rollback on all of that. I think we deserve more for our money, and shouldn't have to add our own labor to the mix, either.