MainStreet Explains: What Are Podbusting Commercials?

Next time you use your digital video recorder to tape your favorite MTV (VIA) show, think twice before fast-forwarding through the commercials—they may be more entertaining than The Real World episode you recorded.

That is because MTV is among the networks now trying to reach the audience by championing a blend of entertainment and commercials called podbusting. Podbusting commercials are ads that are packaged like mini-shows; they sell a product but also entertain.  The name that refers to the industry term for television commercials, which are divided into "pods," with each commercial encompassing a pod, according to Todd Juenger, vice president and general manager of audience research and measurement at TiVo, in El Viso, Calif. While the networks were once primarily concerned with the quality of show content, they are “now being held accountable for the audience during commercial breaks” and therefore, says Juenger, must “reconfigure those commercial pods to hold onto the audience better.” 

TV programmers and advertisers are battling two different ways audiences tune out during commercials: channel surfing and fast forwarding on their digital video recorders (DVR), like  TiVo. Channel surfers are effectively lost if they click away from a show, but if the advertisement is part of an ongoing story, such as the recent 12 weeks of connected minute-long narratives from the clothing retailer American Eagle (AEO) that ran during The Real World, they can be lured to stick around during the commercial break. Likewise those who fast forward with their DVR might be encouraged to stop fast forwarding and press “play” again. As a result, new types of commercials are appearing in response to how television viewers are using technology.