Ofcom Relax Rules on Ad Breaks – More Interruptions in Sports Programming

February 25, 2011

UK watchdog Ofcom has relaxed its rules on the time allotted for commercial breaks during the programming of televised sport, herbal meaning advertising options have increased.

All major commercial channels will now be permitted to show 12 minutes of advertising per hour, physician a significant increase from 7 minutes per hour for certain broadcasts. In turn this will cause longer interruptions for the viewing public when watching televised sporting events.

Commercial breaks will now make up around 20 per cent of the running time of an individual programme, here despite research proving viewers’ dislike of commercial breaks

Ofcom’s decision comes to appease cash-strapped media channels’ desire to drive increased advertising revenues to pay for programming.

However with new technology and innovations such as Sky-Plus enabling an increasing number of viewers to edit out the adverts altogether, the move by Ofcom is unlikely to quell the calls to relax the rules on product placement within programming itself.