As TV advertising slips, networks look for solutions

News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox channel will begin running tiny snips of programming in its TV advertising [subscription required] to try to keep viewers in front of the tube during commercials.

According to The Wall Street Journal: It's something that pops up that is unexpected and the viewer says, 'What the hell is that?' It may keep them around for a while longer," says Jon Nesvig, Fox Broadcasting's president of sales. The bits of programming will last about eight seconds and will run between commercials during regular programming breaks. Fox hopes that interest in the tiny programs will keep people from changing channels during ads.

It may not be coincidence that the announcement by Fox comes the same day that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announces it will broker and measure [subscription required] advertising on the EchoStar Communications Corp.'s (NASDAQ: DISH) Dish Network, which has 13 million subscribers. If the Google system works, it could change the way that television advertising is bought and sold.

The Google news is not exactly welcome at advertising agencies and television networks. Losing control of their inventory to a highly efficient electronic brokerage systems would put a lot of people out of work. TV viewership is dropping as consumers turn to the internet for news and entertainment. Therefore, any system that is raising the value of network advertising inventory is bound to be welcome by major marketers, from car companies to soap manufacturers.

Douglas A. McIntyre