How do broadcasters choose where to insert ad breaks?

stu0rt · 03/12/13 - 15:32

In films, in particular. Is it done by some automated process, or does a human actually watch each film and decide where the best places are for a break?

I ask because I just got round to watching Drowning by Numbers, which I recorded on Film4 last week. It had the worst ad breaks I've ever seen, starting in the MIDDLE of a sentence, with the sentence finishing when the break ended. Surely this wasn't done by a human!

(Incidentally, it was nice to see a few Peter Greenaway films on late night Film4 last week. I hope the others I've recorded don't suffer the same ad break fate!)

[Deleted User] · 03/12/13 - 16:40

they seem to have an agreement to do them at the same time so you can't switch over

mac2708 · 03/12/13 - 19:18

coulsontom wrote: »

they seem to have an agreement to do them at the same time so you can't switch over

Well you can change channels but chances are all the other channels are showing ads too.
It's particularly bad with Sky.

I'm convinced that they have an agreement about this and automatic software to do it

Nilrem · 03/12/13 - 19:27

I remember back in the days of 1-4 only it seemed that the ad breaks were planned into the program or generally carefully placed in the case of films.

These days it seems that much of the time it must be some sort of timer, as if the program wasn't intended for an ad break they often seem to cut in halfway through a scene, or at other odd moments.

As others have said it seems there may be some sort of agreement between various channels to put the ad breaks on at the same time, as often if I start flipping through the channels at the start of an ad break, loads seem to be on a break at the same time.

[Deleted User] · 03/12/13 - 21:14

I think the main ITV channels put a bit of thought into it, but the cheap freeview channels seem to just use a random timing with little regard for the programme being shown. It's certainly not done by a human being, and of course it's worse on shows that were made for the BBC and don't have natural breaks in them.
I've lost count of the number of times I've been watching an old episode of QI or Top Gear on Dave and it just cuts to an ad break half way through a sentence.

I get my own back by never watching ads, everything I watch nowadays is recorded on a hard drive recorder so I can flip through the ads & other irrelevant crap. Saves countless hours a week.

red16v · 03/12/13 - 23:07

Nilrem wrote: »

... I remember back in the days of 1-4 only it seemed that the ad breaks were planned into the program or generally carefully placed in the case of films. ..

.

You're right, in the days of the ITA/IBA commercial breaks had to appear at a natural point in the programme (film or tv) so as not to jar or confuse the viewer.

As part of her duties as an transmission controller, my wife often spent part of her working day previewing films to see where a break could/should be inserted.

[Deleted User] · 03/12/13 - 23:10

When I tried to get a copy of an advert a few years ago from ITV, I was told they had no access to the adverts as they were played out from somewhere else and were nothing to do with ITV. So I was told.

popeye13 · 03/12/13 - 23:12

They are placed by humans (Where to put them i mean)
But sometimes, the automation system that is supposed to kick the ads in and basically pause the show/film goes a brief second to early and cuts off the words or action.
As a way to stop the cutting off, shows that were never meant to have ads in them, like Homeland on Channel 4, we created a break bumper from the opening credits, so that you wouldn't lose dialogue or action to an ill-timed ad break.
Its not always badly placed on Film4 but i agree, it could be better

Richardcoulter · 04/12/13 - 00:09

popeye13 wrote: »

They are placed by humans (Where to put them i mean)
But sometimes, the automation system that is supposed to kick the ads in and basically pause the show/film goes a brief second to early and cuts off the words or action.
As a way to stop the cutting off, shows that were never meant to have ads in them, like Homeland on Channel 4, we created a break bumper from the opening credits, so that you wouldn't lose dialogue or action to an ill-timed ad break.
Its not always badly placed on Film4 but i agree, it could be better

Is this the same for the low budget channels too?

I remember Friendly TV adverts cutting into the middle of a sentence when a live presenter was speaking!

davelovesleeds · 04/12/13 - 02:26

Richardcoulter wrote: »

Is this the same for the low budget channels too?

I remember Friendly TV adverts cutting into the middle of a sentence when a live presenter was speaking!

I remember adverts cutting into live football just as a goal was about to be scored! :mad:

i4u · 04/12/13 - 02:35

David_Parmer wrote: »

When I tried to get a copy of an advert a few years ago from ITV, I was told they had no access to the adverts as they were played out from somewhere else and were nothing to do with ITV. So I was told.

Adverts are made by advertising agencies they are the ones to contact.

i4u · 04/12/13 - 02:42

popeye13 wrote: »

They are placed by humans (Where to put them i mean)
But sometimes, the automation system that is supposed to kick the ads in and basically pause the show/film goes a brief second to early and cuts off the words or action.
As a way to stop the cutting off, shows that were never meant to have ads in them, like Homeland on Channel 4, we created a break bumper from the opening credits, so that you wouldn't lose dialogue or action to an ill-timed ad break.
Its not always badly placed on Film4 but i agree, it could be better

It's the stings/sponsors that are the problem particularly on the lower budget channels. They just cut it in without warning and be inappropriate ie comic immediately after a tragic scene.

Dave hacks BBC programmes, these days the programme seems to have to work round the ads. We are now getting very close to what happens in America where they have the titles and set up and a commercial break.

Bandspread199 · 04/12/13 - 03:15

Originally they were termed "natural breaks", ie when a change of time/scene etc took place. But wuith low audience channels, they are now programmed to play at the same time on each channel, based on the fact that 10 channels X 300,000 viewers means 3 Million watching the ads! However there is a form of human input -channel X starts at 8 pm, channel Y at 7.58pm abnd channel Z at 8.02 pm, so they should all break at an apprpriate time!

rfonzo · 04/12/13 - 03:18

On Im a celebrity they always put an ad break before the bush trucker trial.

aquasplash3 · 04/12/13 - 04:35

coulsontom wrote: »

they seem to have an agreement to do them at the same time so you can't switch over

Nothing to stop them switching over to a BBC channel though.

popeye13 · 04/12/13 - 07:07

Im not sure you all understood me.
I mean is, they site for the ad break is spotted by human eyes and the time code is then input to an automated system to effectively pause said TV show or film and playout the ad break.
BUT, on occasion, the automated system will jump the gun a little and cut off a word.

i4u · 04/12/13 - 11:33

popeye13 wrote: »

Im not sure you all understood me.
I mean is, they site for the ad break is spotted by human eyes and the time code is then input to an automated system to effectively pause said TV show or film and playout the ad break.
BUT, on occasion, the automated system will jump the gun a little and cut off a word.

There can be various reasons, has the person logging the timecode accurately, if there 3 words a seconds an 8 frame error will chop off words. The wrong timecode may have been entered or the computer has a hot date and wants to get away early.

Even live shows can fall foul of automated systems if there isn't a human present able to delay or bring forward the commercial break a second or two.

To save money one person may be working across a number of channels, so they could be working to a computer list rather than to the programme content and what's happening on-air.

Shadowlands · 04/12/13 - 16:29

It all depends if the show or movie is hard parted or soft parted. A hard parted show will have a clock at the start of the first part, then blacks and clocks between each part. A soft parted show will have a clock at the front then the playout centre will be given timecodes of where the channel wants the ad breaks playing out.

carl.waring · 05/12/13 - 04:03

popeye13 wrote: »

BUT, on occasion, the automated system will jump the gun a little and cut off a word.

A bit like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYcVfW2cpb0
Whoops

popeye13 · 05/12/13 - 05:56

carl.waring wrote: »

A bit like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYcVfW2cpb0
Whoops

Thats just appalling isn't it.

Aaron_Scotland · 05/12/13 - 12:55

rfonzo wrote: »

On Im a celebrity they always put an ad break before the bush trucker trial.

I think its more, they put the bushtucker trial before the advert. The first ad is at quarter past generally.

bluesdiamond · 05/12/13 - 14:33

How do they get breaks in New Tricks, still have it squeezed in 60 minutes?

carl.waring · 06/12/13 - 04:10

popeye13 wrote: »

Thats just appalling isn't it.

Terrible but was corrected when I told them about it. It doesn't help whwn they have to replace an ep with a different one at short notice and forget to update the "where the breaks are" file; because that throws things out too.

bluesdiamond wrote: »

How do they get breaks in New Tricks, still have it squeezed in 60 minutes?

I did email them about that but they never replied :mad: I can only assume they have to edit bits out.

exlordlucan · 06/12/13 - 04:23

They don't seem to care anymore, mid sentence, mid song the ads come first.

carl.waring · 06/12/13 - 04:25

Huh? I watch a lot of commercial telly (but not ads!) and hardly ever see a problem.

james_W85 · 06/12/13 - 06:04

I always thought it was just one ad break per 15 mins of programming so roughly 4 per hour

Hey there!

Quick Links

How do broadcasters choose where to insert ad breaks?

Comments