The New York Times runs today a long article on the future of the 30 seconds spot. Nothing new, really. It says that TV ads will be more targeted, relevant and perhaps interactive. Quote:
"The television commercial - a blunt instrument that often reaches as many disinterested people as desired ones - is beginning to behave like a smarter version of direct mail. Ads can be customized, not just by neighborhood, but ultimately by household and perhaps by viewing habits."
One interesting piece of data, though: "43 million Americans time-shift, using either their VCR's or the digital video recorders." While we are at it, Engadget writes that it seems TiVo has started putting banners on the screen when you press the fast-forward button. And gives a link to the hack that turns on the 30-sec skipping. Here: "The 30 second skip code sequence is S (select) P (Play) S (Select) 3 0 S (Select)."
