20-06-2023, 08:09 PM
Some things to be noticed
I noticed that on many channels now, there's no ad break (I mean in terms of advertising) before the top of the hour: just some promos (1 or 2) and the idents leading to the next show.
This makes the length of the internal breaks heavier, more or less 4'30 mins to 5'30 mins, with 4 mins of pure advertising (non-promos, non-stings, non-sponsors) at the first quarter, then at the second quarter, and the third quarter (which means 12 mins in total, as permitted by the COSTA rules)
This can also impact two 30 mins shows at :00 and :30, so that the :30 show often airs at around :32/:33 TX: as on the E4 double bills.
This mostly impacts non-PSB operations, since PSBs are "forced" to have a 1'30 external ad break before the top of the hour (not always though), due to length of internal ad breaks in non-films being restricted to 3'30 by the COSTA laws.
Some channels though still have external ad breaks at the TOTH and less long internal ad breaks as a consequences: e.g. the Narrative ones (Great TV, POP) and the Sky ones; the latter probably in order to make the channels look more premium (there each advertising break is long 3 mins regardless if internal and external, most of the time at least).
This did not used to be the case in the past: some time before the 2010, even on digital channels, there still used to be an external advertising break before the top of the hour with slightly shorter internal advert breaks
I noticed that on many channels now, there's no ad break (I mean in terms of advertising) before the top of the hour: just some promos (1 or 2) and the idents leading to the next show.
This makes the length of the internal breaks heavier, more or less 4'30 mins to 5'30 mins, with 4 mins of pure advertising (non-promos, non-stings, non-sponsors) at the first quarter, then at the second quarter, and the third quarter (which means 12 mins in total, as permitted by the COSTA rules)
This can also impact two 30 mins shows at :00 and :30, so that the :30 show often airs at around :32/:33 TX: as on the E4 double bills.
This mostly impacts non-PSB operations, since PSBs are "forced" to have a 1'30 external ad break before the top of the hour (not always though), due to length of internal ad breaks in non-films being restricted to 3'30 by the COSTA laws.
Some channels though still have external ad breaks at the TOTH and less long internal ad breaks as a consequences: e.g. the Narrative ones (Great TV, POP) and the Sky ones; the latter probably in order to make the channels look more premium (there each advertising break is long 3 mins regardless if internal and external, most of the time at least).
This did not used to be the case in the past: some time before the 2010, even on digital channels, there still used to be an external advertising break before the top of the hour with slightly shorter internal advert breaks