Short Commercial Breaks For 'Dollhouse,' 'Fringe' Not Returning
One executive calls it a 'noble experiment' By MICHAEL HINMAN <mailto:mhin...@airlockalpha.com> Mar-14-2009 http://www.airlockalpha.com/news426158.html Advertisers and viewers alike seemed to respond to the shorter commercial breaks in two of Fox's freshman dramas "Fringe" and "Dollhouse," but apparently that didn't translate into extra dollars for the network as MediaPost is reporting its "remote-free TV" won't return next season. "Financially, it wasn't viable," an unnamed executive told the publication. "It was a noble experiment. Viewers enjoyed it." Fox itself is not commenting on the rumor, but it seemed there were a few problems with the shorter commercial breaks that led to its end. The first being that 10 minutes of commercials typically seen in a 60-minute drama were reduced to five minutes, forcing Fox to charge a premium that advertisers weren't exactly willing to pay, especially in the current down economy. At first, Fox was charging as much as 50 percent more than commercials that would've typically ran without the shorter commercial breaks, but in recent weeks, it's said that premium was closer to 25 to 30 percent. Using shorter commercial breaks meant that the shows would be more expensive to produce as Fox had to add at least five additional minutes to shows -- time that would eventually get cut in reruns or in syndication. Fox said after the initial airings of "Fringe" that advertisers were getting far better recall for their ads in that show than in others, but there just weren't enough advertisers willing to join the likes of Sony Pictures, American Express, Apple Inc. to pay a higher price for that better recall. Some reports had the cost of a 30-second spot on "Fringe" at $300,000. "Fringe" airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET and "Dollhouse" airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
