How Many Minutes of Commercials Are Shown in an Average TV Hour? The Number Has Been Steadily Climbing

May 13, 2014  •  Post A Comment

The number of commercials shown in a typical hour of television has increased steadily over the past five years, the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town reports, citing a study from Nielsen.

Broadcast networks averaged 13 minutes and 25 seconds of commercial time per hour in 2009, which grew to 14 minutes and 15 seconds in 2013, the story reports.

On cable TV, the growth has been even more significant, the report notes. Last year, the average was 15 minutes and 38 seconds, up from 14 minutes and 27 seconds in 2009, according to the report.

And more commercials are being jammed into that growing ad hole, with the number of 30-second spots decreasing while the number of 15-second ads rises.

"In 2009, 30-second spots accounted for 62% of all ads on television; 15-second spots were just 35%. In 2013, the percentage of 30-second ads fell to 53% and 15-second spots increased to 44%," the story reports. "The increased number of commercials has translated to more money flowing into television. According to Nielsen, advertisers spent $78 billion on TV commercials in 2013, compared to $64 billion in 2009."


  1. i was watching a cable channel program and there was a commercial break every 6 minutes, makes me want to stop watching tv

    • A year ago or so I was watching Star Wars on a cable channel and I counted about 6 minutes of ads for every 5 minutes of movie. Aggravating, distracting and actually counterproductive. And it made me NOT want to buy the products advertised,

      • Yes, I have to agree with you. The constant commercials are just plain annoying. On ABC news, there is more time spent on commercials, than actual news. They could run a ten minute news program, and use the rest of the half hour doing commercials, so that people could tend to their business at home, while the commercials are on.

    • It’s getting even more annoying this year. I usually just keep switching channels, then after an hour or two, I just put some music on, something relaxing to bring down my ire from all of those terrible advertisements. One thing that is ironic: I do enjoy some of those ‘comedy’ commercials from time to time.

      • I watched an hour of ABC last evening and the 10 (count em) ads came on every 10 minutes! That comes out to be 1 ad every minute of the show. Disgusting!

      • Discovery Channel is worst over 20 mins of commercials per hour I want to quit watching

    • agreed

    • THEY WON’T LISTEN TO REASON!!! UNTIL, we Boycott TV all together. Stop or sign up for some online service. That’s the only way to force the cable company to modify their commercials policies. Hit them in their bank account. That’s the only thing they understand. Power in numbers- organise and pull away from TV. The cable or sattlelite networks thinks that no one will ever do anything significant for them to worry. They don’t see people they see $ sign

      • Online streaming services surpassed television. We are already doing that they just dont care and since more people are switching to streaming they need more adds to cover their lost profit, hence more commercials per hour

  2. That’s why the only way we watch TV is to DVR the shows and fast forward through the commercials.

    • Boycott Cable, even CNN, there is no other way they will learn.

  3. I believe the 30 minutes of nightly news has more than 10 minutes of ads. It seems the news interrupts a stream of hideous car ads etc.

    • It sure does. A commercial every 3 to 4 minutes.

  4. My sense is that many cable news are more than 1/4th consisting of ads. I could be interested in watching them but stopped watching. I also doubt that the commencials happen every 6 minutes, that would mean 10 breaks but only 90 seconds of commercials at a break, way lower. Perhaps there are also in-house commercials for the network pushing itself constantly. If half of the time is news would be it.

  5. Its no secret. We, as human beings, watch way too much tv, and its been proven make us more complacent rather than free thinking, emotionally intelligent people.
    So I’m glad these commercials breaks are growing and seeming to drag on more and more, like pushers trying to force products down your throat. Because i dont care how addicted you are to TV, the way this is going is pushing me away from the ordeal of it, and I know I cant be the only one.

    • You’re dumb. If you think tv is that bad and don’t like it that much then why don’t you just stop watching it? Are you really that weak willed? You need to have the dislike of commercials force you to stop watching? That’s truly sad.

      • What are you 13 years old?

        • Ive noticed that people present their beliefs, get attacked, and then the attackers get offended when someone says anything like “What are you 13 years old?”

  6. I can go the bathroom, make a sandwich, and finish it, and the commercials are still not over. It makes me not want to watch TV.

    • You’re right, Eddie. You could make your sandwich, and eat it….but if you wait too long, you will miss the three minutes of actual air time, and be back to the next set of commercials!

    • I usually go to the kitchen to make my sandwiches. Is your bathroom closer to the TV?

      • I suppose it depends on what kind of sandwich you’re making.

  7. I have learned to be very good at commercial cleaning. I watch General Hospital at 2 PM EST. The first commercial comes in just a couple of minutes. That’s when I wash any dishes in the sink. The next commercial is in four minutes; I set up my vacuum and pick up newspapers and shoes that are cluttering the floor. The next commercial is in four minutes and that gives me three minutes to run my sweeper and put it away. I still have time to pour myself a cup of coffee. The next commercials are in five minutes, allowing me plenty of time to polish the tables and start my laundry. The wash is started and I make my beds during the next commercials. Soon I transfer my washer load into the dryer while I sweep the kitchen and dining room. Back to my soap opera! Now my rooms are clean, my laundry is ready to fold or hang during the next set of commercials. Soon my show is nearly over and I still have six commercials left to start supper! I think we’ll have a casserole, so I can watch Dr. Phil at 4PM. It’s all a matter of scheduling your day!!!

    • Bless you and your formula for resisting consumer propaganda.

    • You are so funny. I love your comment.

    • Helen -you are ingenious! I too use comm breaks for household tasks. Otherwise I would sit and let the day go by, whilst the Boob Tube sucks at my brain! However, we did Cut The Cable and revert to Digital antennae, Or Free TV, or Poor TV, as we call it LOL. We refuse to pay $100 a month anymore for TV broadcasting full of ads that mostly insult our intellegence. And we can still watch 10 minutes of Good Morning America at 7AM CST, and have the next TWENTY MINUTES of commercials to make our lunches for work. :

  8. Is there any address that I can send my feeling about how many commercials are being played at one time on Satellite TV. For fun yesterday I counted how many commercials played during break the average is 10 up to 13 that is crazy. I pay $90 a month for Satellite TV so I guess I am the crazy one.

    • I DVR EVERYTHING! I don’t watch any commercials – if I had to I would not be able to have TV.

  9. Yes it is pathetic how many commercials that are on TV especially when they repeat the same commercial over and over during the break of the same thing. That is why I have gone to Netflix and antenna TV only I’ know other people will continue watching the cable and Dish and all the other ways out there. But I am finished paying for commercials. It is totally stupid to waste money on commercials that are longer than
    our shows..

  10. Stop watching TV or rent movies. Better yet watch Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, or any of the other pay services. No commercials. This is commercial insanity.

    • That is a good plan, Walter. I canceled cable last year and have Hulu Netflix and amazon. Less money and no ads {except Hulu). I am almost off my blood pressure meds.

  11. It’s the same with the national news media. It is merely a place for the broadcasters to offer an opinion or guests who push them or the show SO THAT THEY GET PAID. There are no actual reporters anymore WHO TRULY FIND THE NEWS AND DEVELOP IT What burns me up the most are the small viewer days like Friday, Saturday and Sunday. MANY TIMES, they simply show a complete hour of what they showed before many, many times.. I only use the TV for DVD movies where I can fast forward over the name promoting actors, director, etc. Many times the “broadcasters” are presenting it in a way that helps them to persuade viewers. NO MORE. I’M GONE

    • Thank you for this – I agree 100%. I have a method to this madness, I watch these stations and flip during the commercials: ABC News, CNN News, and HLN News. However, what I’ve found lately is that the commercials seem to be corresponding with each other – I can’t get a break. HLN will give tidbits of what’s to come, and by the time the commercials are done, you’ve forgotten what you were waiting for. CNN has gone totally political now, with the anchors boasting their ideas-not the public’s. And ABC is all about some crazy Hollywood stories-heaven help! Still, I am paying good money for this bull-help is very much needed!

  12. I mute all commercials, and if I do see an advertiser on way more than others, I never buy their product. I’m also in development of a product that auto-mutes commercials, as the existing products out there that auto-mute don’t work for long. So far, it’s coming along great !

    • That’s why I have a dozen old remotes with worn out mute buttons.

  13. I have never ,and I mean never have bought one thing that I’ve seen on a commercial. I always mute them, I will come back into the room just to mute them. I usually always watch two shows at once , and sometimes it’ll be three , so when Commercials come on one I flip to the other. They are useless annoyances.

  14. I, agree with all these other vewers about commercials being out of control. I to, have never bought a prodect that has been adderverised. I also mute all commercials. It’s rediculus that some commercials last as long as 7 minutes or longer. Just watch the chiller channel.

  15. Just watched E channel. I counted 14 commercial at one time. Ridiculous!! Not only is commercials outrageous but the volume goes up during the commercials. What their next move? Can’t get much worse! Americans need to stand together and boycott certain channels on certain days to show our voice matters. GREED IS OUT OF CONTROL!!

  16. The irony is that consumer based propaganda (ads) helps sell the political propaganda that frequently masquerades as “news”.

    TV is rather revolting.

  17. I cannot stand watching the news anymore. There are some news stations that literally show a story for 30 seconds, cut to commercials, show another 30 second story and then have more commercials again. That is absolutely outrageous and should never happen. On top of that they show the same 3-4 commercials over and over again ON EVERY BREAK. The amount of times I have to see the same car ads have driven me to madness. I hate commercials so much. Thank God for Netflix and channels like HBO because paying to not have to see any commercials is more then worth it. Plus DVRing all TV shows is the way to do it.

  18. Thirteen minutes per hour? How is the word “commercial” defined? My hunch is that the 13-minute figure is way low! I watch CNN frequently and as often as not when I turn it on what comes on is a COMMERCIAL. If the 13-minute figure was accurate I would only see a commercial when I turn the TV on once in four times. Fox news is just as bad, as in MSNBC. None are worth the bombardment of their commercials. These channels won’t keep discriminating audiences for very long at the rate they are going down the road to commercialization. Happy profits and goodbye!

  19. I am getting rid of the cable contract. I have kept it for my husband, who loves sports. But it is so not worth the huge fees. I actually watched a ‘Friends’ episode specifically for the purpose of timing the commercials. I promise you that over 15 minutes of the ‘half hour’ show was ad time. Sick. Greed. The world of business is, in general, a very pathetic comment on the human state.

  20. Why don’t they just run commercials 24 / 7.THEY ARE NOT FAR FROM IT !

    • Uhh, they do. It’s called Infomercial TV. Have a date night at any hotel chain and tune in the their satellite TV in your room. On the TV guide will be 5 or more channels sheerly for products being sold. With a new one featured every hour! When they begin showing “Commercials” during these broadcasts….I will just laugh and laugh!

  21. You cant channel surf anymore, all the channels are on commercial breaks.

    Too many channels, too many commercials is killing tv.

    • Thats the good old american way. We overdo everything.
      They’ll ride that horse until it drops dead on them.

  22. I agree. I limit my TV view on cable to mostly free movies on certain channels Tha t have no commercials. Can forget HGTV and a number of other stations. They have like 25 minutes of commercials and 5 minutes of programming.

  23. True Roy. The Liberty Insurance ads are on at least 200 times a day.

    • Maybe they’re on a lot more, but we just can’t watch all the channels at once. I’m sure it’s much, much higher, as in up in the thousands. Liberty ads are really annoying too, with all that loud repetitive background ‘music.’

  24. Commercial creep was a factor in my decision to dump cable altogether in favor of ad-free streaming services. I find traditional cable simply unwatchable — bad shows loaded with ads — and it offends me that cable companies charge a premium for access to this garbage. So now I stream ad-free movies and shows for far less money, and am much more satisfied for it. I do maintain a subscription to Sling for sports, but now find it hard to watch even a high profile football game, due to the sheer number of commercials being pushed out. Don’t they realize they’re alienating their customer base?

  25. We’ve stopped watching television in our house.
    Our days now don’t have enough hours in them.
    Best thing we ever did.
    I never realised how much utter nonsense was on tv.
    And the best part is…. our dose of corporate vomit (adverts) has been slashed significantly.

    I can’t recommend it highly enough.
    Your imagination comes back – you may even start to question things – which is a long lost art.
    I’m proud to say that I don’t recognise a single advert on TV when I see one played – wherever I might be.
    Try it…. your lives will come back.

  26. There are thousands of complaints about the excessive commercials the TV networks are running. Action must be taken for all these legitimate complaints. What can be done to set new regulations on advertising interruption time of network programs. We are paying a lot of money for our TV viewing, and feel that customer satisfaction in the most important. The greed of TV networks has overrun our program viewing. The consumer has rights too, and need help with this matter. Please help us!

  27. I would be curious to know if the reason for more and more commercials is that operating costs keep going up or if it’s going into profits for the cable companies and their executives.

    Yes, we have options–shut the box off! But truth be told, “customer satisfaction” is no longer a meaningful factor.

  28. CNN

    When I was a kiddo news-junkie in the 60s, networks did not saturate their news programs with commercials. They have done a very good job at alienating viewers now by LOADING the broadcast with commercial interruptions.

    This is cheapness on a grand scale and the average viewer doesn’t realize that by having MORE commercials and less news, the news divisions also need fewer employees.

    Gone are the days when broadcasters believed they had s commitment to “broadcast journalism” and covering news from around the world.

    These days, “cheap” is in. Notice now how CNN has added Anthony Bourdain? It means they can block out real news (and have smaller staffs) and kill-off an hour time block that was formerly occupied by real news. Oh, and let’s not forget when Martin Savage was run into the ground OVER and OVER again with the guy in the mock-up cockpit of a Boeing 767 to make “news” stories well after the fact when the airplane went down in the Indian Ocean. It was cheaper for CNN to just go back to Martin about every 7 minutes than it was to actually send a news crew out on a story to investigate facts.

  29. Back in the day when I was a kid (a long time ago!) my dad told me that there was an FCC regulation on how many commercials could be shown at one time. I don’t know if that still applies but I just got finished watching a movie on Oxygen channel and I counted 18 commercials in one break and 19 in the next one and those were just the last 2 commercial breaks. I believe he also told me that they were limited on how long the commercial breaks could be. If that is still the case most of the channels are not following that. I get so sick and tired of seeing nothing but commercials that I promised myself that I would not buy ANYTHING that was advertised by these stations. Start hitting them where it hurts the most, in the pocketbook. Do not buy from their sponsors and maybe they will back off on some of this crap. GET A GRIP ADVERTISERS, SPONSORS AND TV CHANNELS……WE DO NOT WANT TO SEE SO DARN MANY COMMERCIALS………PERIOD!

  30. My Doctor friend told me while eating lunch that if a drug was heavily advertised a patient should never, never ever take it. A lawyer friend told us same lunch, that those drug companies had help put his children through college, med school and law school. He further said out of ten heavily advertised drugs four to five would cause major medical issues and the company would more than likely know they were a problem drug, hide the data and sell it anyway.

    So we take that even further and do not buy products advertised on TV, we feel if it’s heavily advertised the product is over priced. We go to the least expensive product that has the safest ingredients. Our cable bill is out of sight, we are cutting the cable and going over the air or even tossing out our tV’s. We were happier without the darn crap on TV anyhow.

  31. Just stopped watching MSNBC. News 40-60 seconds news then cut to 4 minutes of ads. Could not bear it any longer.

  32. MSNBC unwatchable. One minute of news then cut to 5 of adverts.

  33. As soon as a commercial comes on, most of which are about side effects from prescription medicine, I mute it and catch up on my reading or do small chores. I too have never nor will I ever purchase any product that interrupts a show I’m watching with their stupid advertising. Because of all the commercials I cut my cable subscription to just basic and purchased a roku stick. Cable companies are thieves and there is no bigger thief than Comcast. I would love to cut cable entirely and watch over the air but because of where I live, even with best antenna, I cannot get a signal.

  34. I assume it’s a matter of financial survival – or rather profit-growing to keep investors interested in supporting the model. I would expect that advertisers will only throw so much support behind the rising costs of program licensing and production, so stations/networks need to increase sales opportunities in order to maintain (and/or grow) the return on investment. The practice continues because it works – and again, it is a necessary component of the business model. Most people simply live with it, of course. That’s the other reason that it will continue.

  35. I DVR a lot of what I watch. For kicks I sampled a number of popular channels* to see what the percentage of commercials to programming averaged. FYI my 2014-15 data indicates an average commercial load of 29.54% commercials*. In other words, they expand the viewing time by almost half for your commercial enjoyment. What bothers me most is that a number of networks edit as much as 15 minutes from a movie to steal the time for advertising!
    *Includes, but not limited to AMC, Chiller, This, IFC, SyFi, TNT, and FX

  36. It is true that he advertising pays for the program. In terms of golf on the golf channel I believe there are more commercials than golf which is rather disruptive and makes viewing totally unfavorable.I would prefer to tape and fast forward on all commercials and I believe more and more people are doing this.

    • Yep, I can’t watch the Golf Channel live any more. The commercial breaks are like every 5 minutes! I DVR everything and FF through it all but having to pay attention enough to catch them all is annoying too. At least they play some music just before the breaks to warn me they’re coming. Now, if they’d just get rid of Cara Banks, I’d be a happy guy! Her accent is as grating as the commercial breaks.

  37. I looked this up and wrote this while waiting for some actual news on CNN. The commercials FINALLY ended! No telling how long the news will actually last.

  38. you may all hate the commercials, but it is what pays for the programs you watch. we can always go back to the formula from the 50’s where advertisers “sponsored” a whole program, of course, if you look at shows now they are pretty much sponsored anyhow, I remember a few episodes of Burn Notice when Fiona got that Hyundai, and the blatant advertising was horrendously written into the script!


  40. I m just sick of paying for dish cable ads where are the t.v. shows 15 mins of ads 10 mins of shpws and the ads are getting longer..stop with the ads we allneed to stand together and cut cable and t.v. r uou with me on this ???

  41. Stop the ads ..we are sick of them where are the t.v.shows with out sooo many ads

  42. CNN has a quality second to none in it’s content and news reporting… There is no doubt about that. But the mere frequency and length of the advert breaks makes the channel unwatchable. Do they think their veiwers are morons with large wallets?
    How to really enjoy CNN as a male news junkie…. Tune in to CNN and imeadiatly set the pause button. Then proceed to the bathroom and complete the three S’s, ending with a shower.
    Start up your car and wait until the ice melts off of all wind shields.
    When respectable visit your local tattooist. Choose to have the Teracota Army stencilled on your back and wait for it to heel.
    Upon your return you should have a decent amount of news with the ability fast forward through all the adds and guff this news opperater wishes to chuck at you…..Nuff said.

    • I question the value of CNN’s news “reporting,” which usually puts the same handful of toothless stories on endless cycle and frames them with blocks of advertising. I get much better information from online news sources, apps like The Guardian, and from international streaming sources, all of which are free and are much lighter on the commercial load. For profit, pro-corporate news will never deliver anything approaching the truth.

  43. Dear sir’s, I m assuming by your beautifully scripted reply that I do not understand, I may have caused great offence. It was never my intention to offend anyone other than news broadcasters that consider their viewers required 15 or 16 minutes of advertisements during their single hour of veiwing.
    I named the Terracotta Army as a Tattoo choice because of it’s grand complexity.
    I am sorry if I have caused any offence. Zimadude.

  44. Fox News among others obviously doesn’t care how bad they are pissing off the viewers with outlandish commercial time vs programming! This situation has grown steadily worse every month and year. So many of us dvr and replay in order to skip over these interruptions. Doing this makes me even madder knowing that these folk lie to their advertisers about live viewer numbers. DVRing and then replaying shows has the same effect as if all watching viewed the commercials. I would think that’s advertiser deception and probably prohibited by law.
    Anyway, viewers are beginning to revolt by not watching!
    What a shame that these greedy TV morons can’t fix the aggravating problem.
    I’m not real sure what you might do with these comments but pretty sure nothing will be done!

  45. I remember watching Blade and it took forever, completely ruined the film. Here in UK we get 3 minute add break every 12-15 minutes and on BBC, there are no adverts

  46. OXYGEN CHANNEL IS THE WORST- ABSOLUTE WORST PROGRAMMING TOO!! Too many commercials and JIVE ASS!! I just complain to Direct TV.. but there all laughing at us. PULL THE PLUG!!

  47. the average 1 hour show has 17-18 minutes of advertisements

  48. commercials were not supposed to be on cable when it came to our area, that’s why you are paying for cable that’s what we were told, now we pay high rates and the commercials have never stopped increasing in the amount of time they have taken up per hour. It is getting to the point where we watch a lot less tv about ready to drop cable. If you watch a movie look up how long the movie is then look on the cable listing on how long its time slot is and you’ll see that up to 35% of the time is commercials not worth watching it really is getting bad.

  49. TURN IT OFF!!!

  50. OK we all HATE commercials but what can we do about it? they are totally stupid, they encourage people to think they can drive like idiots with there cell phones stuck in there ear and cars sliding all over the place. its absolutely ridiculous people are already acting and driving that way.This world is going to hell in a hand basket and it need to STOP!!! what cat we do to stop it!

  51. Just finished the second episode of American Crime on ABC, I counted at least 6 minutes of commercials 4 times at least, possibly 5. The average time actually spent viewing the show was 6-7 minutes between commercials. Too bad great show, couldn’t wait for season 2, won’t be watching it on ABC.

  52. In a site I was at before coming here, Comcast, NBC, and MSNBC are suing Dish Network for use of the “auto skip ad’ function their newest DVR’s. Dish is adamant (rightly so I hope) that the BETAMAX case that went to the Supreme Court years ago settled the ‘time-shifting” of recorded material for the sole purpose of non commercial (not for hire or re-braodcast) use by the consumer was not an infringement on the copyright of the broadcasters nor their TV ad subsidized commercials. Seems these idiots still don’t get it. Ever since the “:betamax”, technology has only gotten better. Now that Dish has taken it to a new level (automatically skipping commercials) I suppose our lazy fingers can still manually figure how to Fast Forward as we’ve been doing for 30+ years. Personally I DVR everything or will pause for 15-20 minutes and go do something then come back and fast scan past them.

  53. It is 4 AM, so I don’t feel like researching this, maybe someone else will do the honors. I seem to recall that Saint Ronald Reagan deregulated, along with much else, the maximum commercial time on television. He did this during his first days in office. He then proceeded to gut every other agency that put citizens first and business second. That set the template for everything that has happened since then, and somehow people have forgotten it. Please correct me if I am wrong.

  54. I pride myself on having this information. Judge Judy has 17-18 minutes of commercials in an hour of programming which consists of two 30 minute shows.

  55. ABC’s evening news will rush through their stories to give you the pharmaceutical commercials which are longer than any story segment.


  57. I record a lot of the time ! When i watch it i skip the commercials .

  58. Not only do we pay for the privilege of watching all these commercials, the newscasters are now being forced to speak so fast to allow more space for advertising! This is pathetic and we are paying for it!

  59. Cut. The. Cord. Be not a sheep. There’s a far better world in Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. And for those of you willing to cross to the dark side, there’s Kodi. Look it up.

  60. I find that I can usually watch all 3 of the major news channels at once and not miss much of the programming on any of them. As yet they have not choreographed their commercials to run concurrently which I find to be a blessing. I say God bless TMC which runs entire classic movies without commercial interruption. I do not have a DVR, but I do have “start-over” with my cable box. The Sundance Channel allows me to do start-over and fast forward through the commercials. I can start watching a movie 45 – 60 minutes after the start time, fast forward through the commercials; and catch up to the live broadcast by the end of the movie. (60 minutes of commercials per 3 hours allotted for a movie)

  61. I would like to see another channel like abc or nbc challenge cbs by running less ads and see what kind of viewing public they get. I think cbs makes way too much money on the ads but I think the owner of CBS knows this and he will never stop because it means more money in his already fat wallet. I use to like watching CBS this morning but by the time they finish their 15 minutes of ads I was forgetting what they were going to show next. And when you watch a sitcom its worse by the time the show comes back you forgot where they left off. i watch QVC and HSN because they don’t show ads, I just wish there were more channels that would also stop running the ads. If people like ads that much let them get a channel that plays nothing but ads.

  62. I had seen the excellent movie ” Jack Reacher, and recommended it to friends…I saw it was coming on FX, so called them to watch it……I was so mad when all we got were interviews we had no interest in, so many commercials breaks that you couldn’t remember what movie you were watching, and two brainless idiots telling us what the movie was about..DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!! I am 69 years old and handicapped, my only entertainment is television..well, I can only hope the greedy corporate heads will have nothing but commercials run thru their heads as they try to sleep plus end up with television as their only source of entertainment because of the same health issues I have. I do not have a DVR or any way of recording…..just a normal size t.v. with no gadgets. I pay a HUGE amount for cable, with no choice of the channels I receive. My very biggest gripe is what FEW channels I did have, ABC, CBS, NBC, and especially heartbreaking, as it was my favorite channel, TNT,. have now turned to FOOTBALL, NASCAR, GOLF, HELL, any sports that please the male population…women may have won the vote, but that’s all we have won..it is a mans world….a RICH mans world, I am sad at how our once wonderful world has changed to greed and the ruthless rich who control everything. May they get the “payback” they so richly deserve….

    • i remember those great days when commercials were regulated by law. then utter greed took over and they pretend it;s because of freedom of something or other!!

  63. I cut the cord a year ago, in part because of the commercial load. I subscribe to Sling for sports, but will be cutting that as well,in a day or two. Even sports broadcasts are unwatchable due to the sheer volume of ads shoved at the viewer. Plus, it chaps my hide that I have to pay for something and still have to endure 30-50% ads.

  64. My Mom called me, concerned about my financial situation and I told her that I had just started work as a Commercial Dishwasher. “Great,” she said. “How much does it pay?” “Oh, I don’t get any money. It’s just that, since we got cable TV, I only wash dishes during commercials.”
    The ridiculous ratio between commercial time vs. movie time MUST be alienating viewers. Eight minutes of movie to nine minutes of ads – I timed it! How can any cable station, network or advertiser think that this approach will result in more sales? I will mute the TV & go do something else or program the “flashback” button to TCM, where I’m not subjected to mindless insurance, prescription drug and acne ads. And many times, I won’t bother to switch it back. Additionally, I find that very often, time is cut from the movie or program to make space for even more commercials! And, despite what you might think, there is most definitely a “Law of Synchronized Commercials”!

  65. Last year I pretty much gave up on TV. I’ll record and speed thru commercials BUT!!! the programs are so cut up one cannot stay with the rhythm of the show or the plot is totally lost and or forgotten. Old shows that ran 22 minutes per 1/2 hour are so cut up it’s almost unrecognizable. Morning 1/2 hr. local news. The actual program is about 7 minutes the rest is commercials and “We’ll be right back”, “In our next segment…”, “See what happens when…”, “Don’t go away, you have to see why (so-n-so)…”, “Blah-blah” and “Yada-yada”. Not to mention the newscaster is CUT OFF IN MID SENTENCE. MY GOOD GOD so much time is wasted on non-programs, the very programs we PAY to watch.
    This is so bad we all must demand less commercials per hour. How much is comfortable? If waiters and waitresses live on 15% tips the so can TV advertisers. That makes the amount of adverts par hour at 9 minutes. In the old days (mid 60’s) it used to be around 6 minutes per half hour and about 11 minutes per hour.
    ALSO, since I’m typing in this box and TRYING TO READ what Ive wrote… I CAN’T SEE IT!!! Who is the DIM-WHIT that expects us to see light gray text on white? You trying to blind us? WTF!

  66. EVERYONE UNITE! .. .. .. Call your TV provider and tell them they have a choice. Either lower the amount of COMMERCIALS to no more than 25% or have them send your TV Bill to the Networks. .. .. .. Sure they will laugh but if enough people start calling and demanding this, IT WILL GET DONE.

  67. pharmaceutical, insurance and automobile are the worst With pharmaceutical being number one.

  68. I video taped most of the TV movies; sports and news. That way I can select what to watch,or, delete the programs entirely. When it comes to commercial advertisements, I simply fast forward them.

  69. ..”and it’s getting worse”, the story says.

  70. We are the consumer and if we impact that which we are so unreceptive to by not watching surely TV executives will deal with it in a manner that will be acceptable by us.

  71. You have to factor in all of the late night infomercials as well. You know, the ones you’re paying for as part of your cable subscription? Then the total commercial load is closer to 50%.

    I’ve cut the cord and now pay much less for far superior, ad-free content than I used to pay for 200+ channels of absolute crap punctuated by mind-numbing commercial messages. Even sports broadcasts have become painful to me — I’d rather follow the score in an app and catch the highlights later.

    Kick your cable TV to the curb. You’re shelling out good money for the dubious privilege of being treated like a mindless consumer.

  72. What do you use now? I have been researching, all I really wanted was the History Channel and the news but they cut the better of the history channels!!! Now it’s mainly Pawn Stars and other such rubbish. MSNBC has a commercial break every thirty seconds now, and you are right, we are the mindless ones but I can’t find an alternative.

  73. Laws that regulate this must be enforced or made.

  74. Well, well . . . so, I’m not alone.

    My first time here. Commercials have been a bane of mine for quite some time. In fact the entire ad biz irks me greatly. Recognize that this is a “deductible business expense.” So, tax dollars help pay for advertising!

    Every time I see the POTUS, I expect it will the first time for there to be some trash corporate logo on the presidential lectern.

    Advertising is EVERYWHERE, blighting the landscape and the media. An entirely new business model is needed for TV. Whether it happens or not depends.
    But I’ve had too much of advertising on TV. It’s been WAY out of control for far too long. It’s past time to turn it off!

  75. TvLand is the worst. Not long ago I used a stopwatch to time the actual show time for Everybody Loves Raymond …….. the episode airs for 36 minutes, but only NINE MINUTES were the show, the other TWENTY SEVEN MINUTES were commercials.

    All tv outlets are doing this now, Logo airs Fresh Prince in 45min blocks. Hell, just a few years ago FX ran LOTR Two Towers, a “special” 2 night airing: 2 nights in a row, 4hrs each night, EIGHT HOURS to air a 3hr movie. And I watched it for a while, just to see that it was STILL cut all to hell to add yet more commercials.

    I don’t watch regular television any more, not one damn show. NetFlix/Hulu/Etc are it.

  76. I haven’t watched commercials in years, since TIVO came out. I have 30 second jump on my remote. Morning Joe is the worse. When Mika says “coming up, I rapidly tap the 30 second jump botton 8 times (4 minutes and I’m good. Same goes for all the shows.

  77. Even the newscasters find ways to interject company names or products into their conversation- and during the actual news. Our local SF Bay Area news programs are horrid. I no longer watch them unless desperate. Increase in commercials? Absolutely!
    Our obsession with money is at a disgusting level.
    I suppose whomever dies with the most money wins.
    Guess the last laugh is really on them. Although some manage to get major hospitals renamed after them.

  78. Oh. Yes. Support PBS! PBS!

  79. So why pay the extraordinary high price of cable or satellite to watch commercials, I would understand if tv was free but with the price we pay, there shouldn’t be any commercials at all!!

  80. The opening comment is bull shit
    I listen to talk radio and in 1/2 hour there is about 16 minutes of commercials

  81. the olympics on NBC is awful
    2 minutes of swimming, then 6 minutes of commercials, 45 second of an interview, 5 minutes of commercials-Same thing with gymnastics
    Boy, I can’t wait for track and field

  82. Just comment on Comcast cable TV—-
    I watched “Lone Survivor” on demand on comcast
    They said “frickin” at least 300 times
    Could you imagine a Navy Seal say Frickin???
    at one scene Marcus Lattrell said “Frick You”

  83. I have noticed a great increase in commercialson TNT morning shows and they are all the same old ones. I can no longer pay for TV and have more minutes of advertising than a program I am canceling my Direct TV.

  84. GREED by the program actors and producers is the cause of all the Ads………It’ absolutely riduclous the number of Ads we have to sit through to watch a show on TV….5 minutes of Show/5 minutes of Ads,we get 30 minutes of show of whats supposed to be an hour show and 15 minutes of show of whats supposed to be a half hour show and the actors get 6 figures a show….

  85. Such a irritating every time whenever watching tv or one thing every news chennel has a tie up with each other they take comercial break same time such a pain

  86. I can’t watch commercial tv anymore. The sheer number of commercials is mind numbing. I simply can’t sit through a half hour sitcom for example, and watch 10-11 minutes of commercials. I either watch DVDs or stream commercial free from Netflix or Hulu.
    How many years of the rest of your life do you want to devote to advertisers? How much of your future retirement money are you willingly giving to advertisers?

  87. I use my TV’s blue blanker and lightning fast reflexes to blank out commercials and they are fast to switch from the show right to the commercial. I hit the mute first, then click back to blue blank off air channel……they’re right though, tooooo many commercials and I’ve noticed within the last 60 days, it’s getting worse……growl!!!

  88. Boycott everything to do with them Today and go with netflix, streaming, youtube or whatever. No commercials{netflix}, cheaper, limitied choice yes but your not supposed to be watching that much damn tv in the first place. Regarding Netlfix – There are plenty of good shows to watch and as long as you dont binge watch them you dont have to worry about running out of stuff, although there search feature is crap and can be hard to find new good shows, they are there somewhere lurking and if you get lucky you can spot one lol. Happens to me all the time

    I have not paid nor watched any cable or satellite in a decade and im only 29, i will not ever pay for it unless the commmercials are removed or Drastically altered, i just will not do it. Its a shame what it has come to……..Pathetic A.F

    If you need news then use the internet, everyone has phones nowadays and most news channels will live stream free or you can catch the individual clips or read for a change.

    R.I.P Sports Fans

  89. And I thought it was just me. It’s getting to the point I don’t even want to watch regular TV, and one person that did suggest to DVR it, they’re not letting you skip through the commercials on the DVR now. It’s horrible and disgusting. I remember when cable was just supposed to be for reception and commercial free channels! Doesn’t seem that way anymore!!!

  90. i stopped watching tv for over two years now and haven’t missed it at all !!!!!!!!!

  91. !!!

  92. i agree this commercial break every 6 min is annoying and dumb

  93. this is an outrage!!

  94. this is ANNOYING i went to go watch my favourite show but there was ads so i went to 10 new channels and ALL HAD ADDS F*&#K DIS IM DONE

  95. Since, almost everybody is paying for cable, dish, & satellite; it should be a “class action lawsuit” , if we are forced to watch more commercials, than the t.v. shows we’re paying for. I can understand if it was free. We are not getting the product, for which we’re paying for.

  96. I remember as a kid when people came to the door asking my parents if they would be interested in cable and they explained all the benefits. Better quality with clearer reception and sound. Few if any commercials because that is what the monthly fee was for and there would be no need for commercials. No unsightly antenna on the roof or tower to maintain. Yes I remember all this BS so clearly when they wanted to get cable introduced into our small town. I noticed on one channel they have commercials about every 12 to 15 minutes for the first 45 minutes. Then it goes to about every 9 or 10 and then during the last 30 minutes it is every 4 minutes. I just turn off the TV or change channels nothing is so good that you have to put up with that.

  97. Yes……. If you would like to see American capitalism at its very, very worst just watch The Evening News, and observe the difference in how much less news you get to watch during the last fifteen minutes as compared to the first fifteen minutes due to the immense amount of advertising thrown in (on the average somewhere around four to five minutes of news, the rest advertisements!) and all of it due to GREED/their need to make as much money as possible!!!!!!!!!



    Each of us only have a certain amount of time that we will get to live and be here on this earth. We will only have just so many days, so many hours and only so many minutes. So if you truly cherish your time and how it is being spent, and if you feel strongly enough to no longer be a contributor to this open and defiant display of corporate greed that has gone completely out of control then pass on the date for a nationwide boycott where everyone will choose the same date on their calendar when they will call their cable company and disconnect. On that date it is IMPORTANT not to allow yourself to be sold yet again a cheaper package that they may offer which will only come back to haunt us all again. Rather this boycott will only be effective and send a clear message to all those responsible for the low and poor quality of Television today if we stand united.






  99. I have been muting ALL TV commercials (and radio) for over 30 years and as far as I know, the ONLY advertised item I have ever bought was over twenty years ago when I purchased a tele-zapper which was a device that when installed on the incoming phone line sent out a signal to telemarketers that indicated the phone was disconnected which would start the process of eliminating unwanted phone calls. Took about a month, but it really did work.

    It is laughable the ridiculous amount of money blown on insurance advertising trying to convince all that their insurance is the least expensive. Why don’t they take the billions of $$$ blown on frivolous advertising, lower their rates accordingly and maybe save their customers some real money ?

  100. Just as most of the complaints on too many commercials we have cut down on TV watching BY 70%’
    There are so many repeats within their 3 to 5 minute commercial that its very annoying.
    Watching the View, Dr. Phil, the news and many most other shows especially Y & R go way beyond the allowed limit, is anyone watching?
    1- Many commercials are dumb as a stump at best.
    2- When we watch annoying commercials I will go out of my way to avoid buying the product or services.
    3- I would imagine buying a new TV will not be a priority for most people.
    4- This pretty much reduces cable requirements for computer use only

  101. It is up to 60 minutes of commercials in a 90 minutes show on Comcast. I am sick and tired of wasting my time and paying for adds on TV. Years ago when HBO first came out there were no commercials. Now it is almost 50%. Ready to go back to broadcast TV.

  102. you PAY for cable and they still hit you with a shitload of commercials every 7 minutes. Whats worse is they play the same commercial several times a slot! I agree, I will never want to buy some product that I been forced to hear about every night over and over. So cable gets paid from us and through commercials, and nobody is getting off cheap! The rates go up, service goes down.
    This might be a good thing as we free ourselves from the idiot box and start taking in our surroundings. They should pay us to watch their commercials!
    Picture that!

  103. You’d have to be an idiot to buy something they have to advertise every 10 minutes i buy the stuff they dont advertise because it speaks for itself

  104. We are developing an APP that allows you to prerecord any program less the commercials. this allows you to watch the program without commercials,,,,program is now 40 minutes rather than one hour

  105. My wife mutes ALL commercials. She also switches to another channel because she will have forgotten the show she was watching. I rarely look at
    TV and if I see a commercial promoting anything, I don’t buy that product. Those companies are fools because millions of people are not watching their commercials. I mostly watch Netflix and get my news streamed on the Internet.

  106. I copy the shows I like on my VCR ..then zip through all the commercials later on.I never waste my time watching any shows anymore..Zchannel 7with david Muir..A complete waste of time …seems likes hundred commercials on his news show. Good bye David ..

  107. Nick at Nite now up to 20+ minutes of commercials per hour !!!!!!! GROSS !!!!!!!

  108. FoxNews is one of the worse. Twice as many as CNN.
    It’s terrible. Every time I see that pillow commercial I yell out Take your pillow and shove it up your ass.

  109. Just finished watching the newest Bates Motel even though i recorded and was skipping commercials I was baffled at how many times i had to hit the 30 second skip. I’m pretty sure they have added at least 1.5 mins of commercials this year per hour. Which means my 1 hour show was almost 20mins of commercials. Absolute bullshit. This is in Canada using telus.

  110. I was watching a show the other night and decided to count the commercials.. Within a one hour show, there were 41 commercials… Makes me glad I have a PVR so I can fast forward them…

    Pretty soon there will be more commercial and show.. I understand we need them (or at least the stations do), But 41 in an hour.. Thats pathetic..

  111. Ilikebigbboob@gmail.com
    I was inspired to come on line here after a deluge of ads on BBC America.
    Just to show you how much advertising length and frequency has Changed……
    I was watching a 1951 episode of the Adventures of Superman…..guess how long the actual run time was…..28.50 minutes exactly.
    The other episodes were of comparable length.

  112. In the past month, I have actually enjoyed only 3 commercials out of hundreds. I have just finished reading all of the comments above and not a single person is wrong! I sometimes just laugh at how the networks and cable do actually think we are all stupid. I, like so many others, have NEVER bought anything they advertise and never will….what’s the point? See ya, I have to take a 20 minute commercial break!

  113. I’ve became SO fed up with trying to watch a show (or movies) with the ever-increasing TSUNAMI of commercials, that I finally gave up trying to watch shows altogether on both broadcast and cable tv.

    If I’m interested in watching something, I simply wait for it to come out on dvd, and watch it that way.

    In fact, I used to wait for the end of each season, and buy each one individually, but now wait for the SERIES to conclude, wait for the inevitable “Complete Series” release, and watch it then.

    Believe it or not, once you get used to being patient enough to wait for a series to run it’s course, it’s really not that hard to do. It’s not like there isn’t PLENTY of other things to watch in the meantime!

    Hey……..I could either pay for watching a show with my time (and AGGRAVATION) by putting up with all those annoying commercials, or simply pay directly for the dvds themselves, and enjoy them later, completely commercial free !!!

    Pretty much the only thing I watch “live” anymore is the NFL, but even with that, I’ve now started dvr’ing the games, and watching immediately after the game ends, so I can skip all the commercials…..

  114. I was watching the season finale of agents of shield, for an hour long show the actual show only showed in 5 minute intervals, the commercials lasted 10-12 minutes. So there was only 20 minutes of the actual show. So freaking stupid.

  115. I have not watched TV for several years now. Mainly because of the time allotted for commercials. I spend my spare time with YouTube now. Funny because I have recently noticed that the commercials are growing there too. Its time we start getting a life instead of being addicted to a Box on the wall.

  116. Comcast has a new dirty trick. When watching something ‘On Demand’, they will insert their own commercials JUST BEFORE a ‘regular’ commercial will present, such that if you just wait though the whole commercial set, you will be MISSING some of the actual program without even knowing it! In other words, they don’t just break INTO a show, and then resume at that same point in the show after the commercial, but they break OVER actual show content, and when the show resumes you never know that you missed part of the show, it was just left out! I only noticed it because some of the shows I was watching seemed to be going unusually ABRUPTLY from show to commercial. So I checked what was happening by turning the same show on through Comcast online through the computer, and could see the 10-30 seconds of the show that was missing as presented on the ‘On Demand’ through the cable.

  117. Cheers to all posters on this thread. It helps to see like-minded people as fed up with the frequency and excessive amount of stupid, inane ads as I. It was making me psychotic. I muted, changed channels, recorded and skipped the commercials (which, according to one network dipstick exec, is copyright infringement) which helped somewhat . I don’t watch much broadcast or cable TV anymore, but there are some good shows out there. Netflix and streaming services are a good option. But to see all I wanted, I was forced to go to the Dark Side, A fireTV stick, properly programmed, gets me most everything I could ever want to watch for free, no commercials. Only drawbacks are the learning curve and sometimes erratic streams which are likely caused by shitty Armstrong cable. In this insanely capitalistic nation, meaningful legislation to ease this torture is highly unlikely. Especially with a Republican majority in Congress, the party that would eliminate all regulation. There are only two countries that allow pharmaceutical ads on TV. Why are we one of them? Flood the FTC with complaints about this issue. If only we could return to those halcyon days before big pharma was allowed TV ads. Fight the good fight, tell the Networks and Madison Ave. to piss off! Whew, that felt good to vent, thanks.

  118. The real concern for American citizens is the lack of FCC and State Commerce agency oversight .
    The license to operate over the public airways comes with responsibilities-it was never meant to be
    a marketing resource..

    The cable operators employ a large staff of highly paid lobbyists to twist the arms of these
    oversight agencies and they are on a path to “kill the golden goose”.

    in a few more years the television industry with pass into history.

  119. So sick of the same stupid commercials on the comedy network
    Week after week – same thing – it’s so stupid – and the same ones over and over on the same Show! Really!!

  120. I need ur help..what bis the standard rate of 2 minutes advertisement on TV and RADIO TNX..

  121. I need ur help.. what is the standard rate of 2 minutes advertisement on TV and RADIO tnx..

  122. 28 commercials on channel 251, August 27, 2017. Its outrageous!

  123. To many commercials.across the board no matter what channel you are watching. I was trying to find out about tv shows back in the 60’s & 70’s & can’t seem to find an answer. I’m sure the shows back then were at least 50-53 minutes long.

  124. Not to mention that they are now speeding up the regular programming ever so slightly so they can squeeze in another mindless ad. My biggest gripe now is after all the ads are done and they finally go back to the show, they are pasting ads while I’m trying to watch. I just got a 4k tv and I want to see the whole screen while my show is on. Really, is that too much to ask? Really?

  125. I have timed these commercials, and the number of commercials per one half hour and one hour shows. They play on average 16 to 18 commercials per spot, and there are usually 5 spots per one half hour show. In some cases they play the same commercials several times in one spot. In a one hour show, one is lucky to have 20 minutes of movie/tv show and 40 minutes of commercials. That being NOT enough, they play commercials on the screen during the tv show. So, why not just put a 2×3 inch screen in the upper left or right of the screen and play the commercials over and over again with all the noise, and stupidity that these commercials now depict. Frankly, I’m tired of the Ford, Dodge, Chevy, Nissan, Toyota and Subaru commercials, as well as the Budweiser with its loud obnoxious screaming music. I am tired of all the feminine and hygiene products such as, tampon, bra, panty and the other commercials. We the public get it. The manufacturers of these product want to sell their wares, but to inundate us with all the hype and propaganda about these products, I am seriously considering selling my TV and start doing something else with my time. Why is it that when the program “Cheaters” comes on at 4am each morning, they may limit their commercials to around 2 and then it’s back to the show. What gives. I’m tired of being brainwashed with all the stupidity of the ads being shown. We all shop for these products, so why hit us with all the same ads?

  126. I timed a recent episode of Walking Dead with there being a 4 minute commercial break for every 6 minutes of episode, making a total of 24 minutes of commercial in one hour

  127. I am a senior who is furious with the many. AARP is as corrupt as the many lying charity pharma & lying AARP ads…the money AARP spends on its massive ad campaign is almost criminal! AMAC uses its funds to actually HELP seniors, not to rip them off like AARP does at every turn! Lying crooks! Same with ASPCA, UNICEF, CARE, wasteful charities. 90% of funds go into exec’s pockets, almost NOTHING goes to benefit the cause the charity was created to help. Same with corrupt Clinton Foundations & fat cat overpaid, underperforming execs. ASPCA LIES & grossly misleads in its ads.

  128. Free TV has at least six minutes less time airing commercials than pay TV! That’s every hour! The ads are stupid, monotonous, even condescending to men, who are made to look like worthless, bumbling fools or worse…AARP ads flood the screen, dishonest PCH ads claim to offer money no one ever wins…(have you ever heard of anyone winning any PCH prizes? I sure have not!) ASPCA LIES. about the animals it claims to save…Big Pharma pushes deadly meds likely to harm or kill those who use them.. CARE, UNICEF, Save The Children, Clinton Foundations all LIE about what they do…execs get 90% or more of every donated dollar for themselves & almost NOTHING goes to the cause itself. AARP lies & spends millions on its ads which flood the screen time after time, day in, day out. AARP’s rival AMAC spends its money actually working on behalf of senior citizens…not wasting multiple millions on dishonest ads wooing unaware seniors to part with their money by joining AARP. Too many ads…far too many dishonest ads & profligate lies, l4ies & more LIES!

  129. Remember when a cable subscription meant no commercials? Sure you only had a few premium channels, but the whole idea was to just watch movies. Why pay to watch commercials. Cut the cable, put up an antenna, and add a streaming service. Streaming services are similar to what cable used to in the beginning. And if you still need to spend money on good television, support your local PBS station.

  130. I say that tv channels should air the comercials the same way radio station do it. 50 minutes of musice and then 10 of comercials . So if an episode is 24-26 minutes without comercials then air the epispde in its entirety first then take the remaining 4-6 minutes for comercials and repeat. For 1 hour shows same format. Movies same format. The only shows that should stick to the way they are now are anything live like award shows, sports, live talent shoes where the comercials are to by the performers time to get ready, ect.

  131. I cut the cord in August, 2009 and have never missed it. I do stream Netflix and Hulu along with Amazon as I have a Prime membership. In addition to that I do watch international programming on a free site that does have some commercials, but I do quick chores when the ads come on. I recently got a flyer from a cable company offering some big deal “special” and when I looked at the channels offered there were only 3 that I would have even considered watching. The price for this great deal was “only” $49.00 a month. No thanks – I’m happy only paying $20.00 a month and actually seeing things I am interested in.

  132. We were sucked into to the BIG LIE of “pay TV” under the notion that we’ll now pay for the TV service but commercials would be gone. Those 500 channels we supposedly get are duplicates and triplicates. Many of them require additional paid subscriptions. And we get more commercial ads then ever. I remember 10 years ago I didn’t need a cable box to get HD tv direct to my set. Now you need a box so Comcast and like companies can not only control content but quality and up-charge for both. And then they tack on equipment rental and a laundry list of other fees.

    I’m pretty much done with that. It costs for good internet, but I’m done with cable TV. I get Amazon Prime free because I’m a member (and use Amazon to order a lot of stuff). I share a Netflix account with my daughter and have recently subscribed to YouTubeTV for a fraction of what Comcast was charging. What’s cool about YouTubeTV is that you can record any program you like and just skip through the commercials as if you were using your old DVR that Comcast up-charged you for. I’m just waiting until wireless internet gets up to speed… and bye-bye Comcast altogether. Then Comcast will be forced once again to treat their customers with respect as they used to.

  133. Watch PBS, commercial free and you get actual news and not what a pundit thinks.

    • GMA and other shows are guilty of pouring over 10 minutes of commercials continuously! I encourage all viewers to tell these heinous broadcasters we will boycott their programs if they don’t significantly REDUCE the number and percentage of ads on their shows. It’s time for them to stop being so greedy, and provide a better version of the entertainment they claim to be providing. Thanks for listening.

  134. Ha! 13 to 14 minutes of commercials per hour!? What kind of ridiculous joke is that? You truly expect me to believe that, as 3 commercial breaks have occurred while I have been searching for the comment button, and typing all this…


  136. I too get annoyed by commercials on cable tv. For kicks, I time the length of commercial and length of program. In one hour, 33-40% of the time is devoted to commercials. We not only are paying for cable, but also giving them 20-25 minutes of our time. So if you make $20 per hour, you should be charging $8-9 per hour to watch their commercials. Everone should know how much their time is worth per hour. DVR or renting a movie is the best option time-wise.

  137. Last year I started to watch football games with the remote nearby or in my hand so I could mute all the commercials. (A DVR just makes the viewer go back and forth too much) I’m a retired senior and watch too much TV but I’m going to the library more often and gradually watching less. But now I always have my remote in my hand. It seems the ad companies and those pushing their products don’t grasp the principal of “diminishing returns”. They show more and more commercials, I watch less and less TV.

  138. Three letters P B S !!! Once you begin enjoying some of their wide variety of comm free programming, you will actually want to support them as well. Watch any Nova or Nature on wednesday night. You will learn to appreciate our Gift of Life, and have your brain enhanced as well. PBS!

  139. So I guess we all agree Commercials Suck? And no I am not 13 I am 14. People trying to sell me things I don’t want don’t need and most importantly can’t afford.

  140. I graduated college in 1993 with Communications major radio and television all of the instructors told us commercials who would be gone and the not too distant future boy were they full of BS

  141. As advertisements increase the Cable Company’s are making a bundle so there comes a time when the Cable Company’s should no longer charge the consumer.

    • Hey I’m for that, I pay $177.00 a month to Spectrum for cable and internet, but I’m getting to the end of my rope switching channels to avoid commercials. SOMETHING IS GOING TO CHANGE VERY SOON

  142. ABC David Muir News last 16 minutes 75% commercials Keep fast forward handy !!!

  143. Yes, there is way too many commercials on regular tv! I think we all like to sit down in front of the “tellie” and watch a movie, sitcom or the news without so very many interruptions. About 25-30% of the tv show is not what we want to see. Even if a dvr or fast forward is used, the actual story of the show has been cut. The frequent interruptions also add to our anger and frustration.
    I watch PBS for the majority of my shows. So interesting! Their news is factual. Who can resist Martha cooking up something delicious..
    TCM with its great movies, commercial-free. Netflix & Acorn as my streaming shows.
    Tell u folks I’m a happy camper at 85!!

  144. I’m paying $148.00 each month for TV and Internet. You would think that I should be entitled to watch commercial free movies. No and now Frontier has added a fast forward rejection for commercials. I will start keeping a list of advertised merchandise and at least I can refuse to purchase the items interrupting my programs.

  145. Early on 30-minute tv shows were brought to you by one sponsor. if the public hated the show, the sponsor was screwed. So, sponsors became alternate week sponsors and now participating sponsor (an ad here — an ad there). There were only 2 1/2 minutes of commercials during the show and one minute between shows (station break). End credits of tv shows were not interrupted by future shows. Now end credits are zapped SO FAST one cannot see who did what or who was who on the screen. Early TV credits had me scratching my head. Some of the crew had their name and job listed. Some of the actors had only their names listed (you actually saw them on the screen, but had no idea who they were) . Instead of about 20 total names, now everyone who did anything during the production gets credit for it, but their names are zapped so fast and small you won’t know anyway.

  146. One thing that I’ve noticed over the last couple of years is that more and more cable networks are offsetting the start times for many shows. Why? To pound in more commercials, why else! So in addition to the parts of the program that were originally chopped out to accommodate more ads, now the program start times have been offset to accommodate even MORE ads! Here’s a perfect example: one of my all-time favorite sitcoms, MASH, is re-run on three different cable networks throughout any weekday. On two of those three networks, the start time for the show is like 3:06PM and ends at 3:36PM. The next episode starts at 3:42PM and ends at 4:12PM. On the other network with the “normal” start and end times, I’ve noticed scenes from the show that were chopped out in order to insert more commercials!
    Once, I timed a 30-minute local newscast: 12 minutes of commercials!!

  147. Here in the UK ,sat least we have some half dozen channels from the BBC with no commercials ,worth the 200 dollars yearly mandatory fee, all the hundreds of channels here are full of commercials,ads as we call them here,drive you mad .

  148. it`s funny. I remember why cable tv started.. The myth was that you would pay for cable in order to be free from commercial interruption. It didn`t take any time at all for greed to step into that game. Same as the Toll Bridge myth. Once the gurus get their hands on your money the grip never loosens. Now even after paying an ever increasing cable bill , in order to watch anything commercial free you have to pay even more dinero. Even pbs is loaded with advertisements. Big Brother, Fake News and certain billionaire despots now run this country. There is no escape.

  149. Its because Disney owns all the channels. Or at least a large percentage of the equity. Blame Disney!

    • Disney/ABC’s THE VIEW is 34 minutes (not hourlong as proported); then they have 6 minutes inside the program (a la QVC or HSN) dedicated to “View Your Deal” peddling more products. Can’t escape the greedy grubby uber-consumerism.

  150. Why can’t all advertising be put on a special advertising channel and not on regular tv?
    (Because no one would watch it of their own choice proving we’re not interested in them)!

  151. Freedom from commercials was the carrot they offered to switch from broadcast tv cable tv . Satelite tv never came thru with their promise. The advertisers don’t realize that people don’t switch from their favoriite brand. I have never switched products on the word of some paid celebrity.

  152. I watch Antenna TV network on the weekends, which is a non cable TV channel. They show a lot of old 80s and 90s sitcoms on Saturday and Sundays. This channel is RIDDLED with what seems like only the following commercials. 60 second ASPCA ads (God I hate this commercial with a passion), Shriner’s hosital, and ads for various lawyers, government insurance programs, bottom shelf insurance companies, and life alert programs.
    I think that this channel’s target demographic must be senior citizens/shut ins/ and lower income folks, since most of the ads feature manipulative begging for money (ASPCA), products that aid the elderly, and medical information.
    Also, the rare time that I watch any prime time series on a major network, There is what amounts to probably 15 minutes of total ad time, compared to thirteen minutes total of the actual TV show.

  153. I’m fed up with interruptions in flow of programs with sooo many commercials, so…I’m recording and watching 1hour later fast fwd thru commercials or the next day.

  154. When I lived in England, We hated to buy a license to watch the BBC. But maybe they had a good idea by eliminating the commercials. We paid to watch TV, not the advertisers. After seeing all to the ads here, I now think we could do the same. On a different note, the channels with ads bunched them together at the 15 minute mark, so you could plan your day better. Also, the programs would end at the actual time instead of on the hour.

  155. I record all the shows I want to watch so that I can fast forward commercials. However, CBS This Morning has so many commercials, I have to hold the remote in my hand!

  156. As a former radio production engineer, I cannot tolerate the current ratio of commercials to music and have abandoned listening to radio entirely. As for TV, I enjoyed TCM’s commercial-free screenings of classic films, but realized I was overpaying for the amount of time I watched the channel. Having recently relocated, I cut the cord and record programs I want to see to a PC via a gadget I bought on eBay, watch the program without the commercials, then delete the file after viewing. If I decide the program is special enough to want to keep a copy, I burn it to either a DVD-R or a BD (Blu-ray) blank and file it away in my library after editing out the commercial breaks. Thereis no reason anyone has to subject himself/herself to Madison Avenue ad firms. All it takes is a DVR or a PC and a liitle determination to flip-off the advertisers!


    • PBS there ok until they start asking for money

  158. We the people own the airwaves, and we have every right to specify how many minutes per hour the stations we allow to use our airwaves may devote to commercials

    • I have read 191 comments regarding the disgust of
      too many commercials, I remember the day when I looked forward to turning on the TV to relax now I just stare at a black screen trying to decide if I want to deal with all crap advertisers think I need.

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