The New York Times describes how a study found that being interrupted by commercials can actually make watching TV shows more enjoyable - even bad commercials. But I found this tidbit more interesting:
The opposite was true for irritating experiences, like listening to vacuum cleaner noise: a break only made it seem worse, they found.
“The reason this happens, we argue, is that we tend to adapt to a variety of experiences, as they’re happening,” Dr. Nelson said. “Listening to a song, watching a TV program, having a massage: these all start out very enjoyable, and within a few minutes we get used to it. Interruptions break that up.”
Maybe it would be easier to work for 3 hours straight rather than taking short 5-minute breaks in between.
How interesting… As a marketer, I think that the trend is going away from “push” advertising that interrupts our daily media uses and more toward methods that have value in and of themselves. Commercials have typically been viewed as one of the main “push” advertising media. It’s very curious that commercials can be seen as adding value to our TV viewing experience…
