http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/T/TV_SNEAKY_ADS?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME
Networks Try New Ways to End Ad Skipping
By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the most creative thinking in television these days has nothing to do with comedy or drama. It’s about the commercials. Fueled by a growing sense of desperation, networks are inserting games, quizzes and mini-dramas into commercial breaks.
They’re incorporating more product pitches into programming. Two experimental programs without traditional commercial breaks will premiere this fall. NBC has even called on Jerry Seinfeld for help.
This is all being done to stop viewers with DVRs from fast-forwarding through advertisements, or to circumvent those that do.
Adding to the urgency, this week Nielsen Media Research begins offering ratings for commercial breaks, instead of just the shows around them.
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