Billboards and 30 second tv spots have been among the iconic advertising formats for decades. (The web has its own version in the form of banner ads, interstitials, and the torrent of video advertising inserting itself in our streams.) And yet NBC is moving towards having advertisers sponsor entire shows. From the Times:

“At a presentation on Wednesday afternoon, senior executives of NBC, part of the NBC Universal unit of General Electric, will describe how they are seeking to make advertisers into long-term partners rather than just sell them 30-second commercials.”

Apparently, the 30 second commercials weren’t offering enough value to stop viewers from skipping them. And now, the networks have to actually deliver value in order for the viewer to spend time with a brand’s message.

A new idea? Nope. Check out our second blog post ever “More Than A Rectangle” (from November of 2006) where we point to a video of exactly this scenario on TV from decades ago where sponsors are up front about their role in the content:

“The lines between content and advertising were blurry (and to a certain extent they appeared to be out in the open). In this example at least, it was clear that the sponsor was playing a key role in bringing the program to the screen.”

NBC certainly gets that this is not a new model as they pioneered it back in the day.

Some people may look at this as a bad thing. After all, won’t this pollute the content on TV with subliminal (and not so subliminal) advertising? Won’t the integrity of the medium be compromised?

I could answer that there already are all sorts of “impure” influences on the content you see on television and in other mediums (including the web). Ratings boards, political influences, advertiser interests, network cross-promotion, outright product placement, etc. Rarely is any of the big budget media you see these days purely the vision of the creator(s). The people paying the bills almost always end up exerting some influence. But my point is not that this “new” world of sponsors “owning” the whole show is no different than before. I actually think it’s not just no worse, but in fact better.

Before, networks relied on your inability to randomly access their shows to shove commercials down your throat. They had your attention and too bad if they wasted your time. Now networks have to earn your attention. If you don’t like the content, don’t watch it. Advertisers aren’t stupid. They can put out countless shows that are glorified ads, but if they’re not good, nobody will watch — and that’s ultimately their goal. Now you have content producers and advertisers working together to deliver value. To you. And often, essentially for free.

And of course, while our medium is the web, that’s basically what we do here at Jackson Fish Market. We are trying to create valuable web experiences that users will love and brands will want to sponsor. It’s nice to see interests align so well across multiple mediums. It makes you feel like you’re on the right track.