Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, Fox is set to do a little experimenting with advertising when it comes to launching its two new genre dramas next season, Fringe and Dollhouse. Both hour-long shows will now be more true to that label, accompanied by half the amount of commercials traditionally shown. The article says there’ll be 50% the usual commercials and promos, which by my calculations would point to somewhere in the realm of 7-8 minutes of total non-show material for each scheduled hour of these two shows. Each commercial break itself will also be shorter. The idea is that the breaks will be short and painless enough that it won’t make sense for viewers to either change the channel or get up and walk away, thereby keeping viewers eyes on the commercials for fear of missing the show’s imminent return. The limited commercials that are shown will of course be more expensive as a result. As a consequence of these changes, the shows themselves will be approximately 7 minutes longer than normal. That’s a whopping 15% more show each week!
It should be interesting to see whether the financial aspects of this move can pan out beyond the boardrooms. For that matter, it’ll also be interesting to see how each show uses the additional allotted time, whether to pump episodes up with more plot or to perhaps allow for character moments that can often get the shaft. Either way, I’ll check out both pilots when they launch. Fringe has me thanks to having J.J. Abrams attached and its liberal use of X-Files influences. Meanwhile, Dollhouse will have me watching thanks to Joss Whedon and what he did with Firefly.
Fringe debuts Tuesday, August 26th while Dollhouse is set for Mondays beginning in January.
