What happened to the time when you could pay for a commercial to run in a primetime spot on a major cable network and feel confident that you would gain a wide range of viewers? We are now in the age of TiVo, DVR, and Hulu, presenting advertisers with a new challenge: how to break through all the clutter?
It’s three o’clock central time and The Ellen DeGeneres Show is on TV. She has celebrities giving hugs to audience members to donate money to the Boys and Girls Club of America, “Brought to you by Nivea.” A few minutes later she is giving away a new GMC Terrain to a deserving viewer, followed by free iPods for the entire audience.
The time has come when it is no longer efficient to just put your message in commercials, on the radio or in print. Try watching a show in the next week that isn’t filled with an overload of different products staring at you through your TV.
