Ads aren't finished; interruptions are finished

Two pieces of information came out today confirming the troubles faced by the exploding TV market (Buzzmachine). One is the Credit Suisse has forecast (Times) of a year-on-year drop in revenues at the UK's main commercial broadcaster ITV of 22% in Q3 and 20% in Q4. Also today a new Forrester "first look" report shows how and why TV ads are waning in their effectiveness (FT) and why money is moving out of TV. The report points out that (in the US) DVR users skip 92% of ads; that multitasking means passive TV-watching has become TV-plus-game-plus-SMS-plus-book and the ads are simply tuned out; and that a plenitude of alternatives for advertisers is encouraging them to commit budgets elsewhere.

So the TV-to-online diaspora (Mashable) continues, in both attention and revenues. And yet...amidst this gloom as viewers evade or ignore interruptive ad formats is all the attention (Adverlab) surrounding the next Sony Bravia ad (YouTube). As DVRs and IPTV roll towards ubiquity and brands such as Land Rover simply launch their own broadband TV channels (Times), it doesn't spell the end of TV ads - merely the end of TV ads as interruptions.