Quicky ad breaks

Motley Fool informs us that NBC is trying "speed ads" this week on its USA Network. The experiement consists of a one minute commercial ad block with 2 :30 spots which so far Walgreen and Allstate have signed up for. The rest of the commerical breaks will be their usual 2-4 minutes in length. Here's a great point by the writer of the article:

On the other hand, I can't see just how effective this experiment might be. First off, there's the sheer fact that it lasts for only five days, during one program, which wasn't identified. If the experiment is deemed a success from this small piece of data and the practice becomes more widespread, I can imagine a few things that might infuriate viewers still more -- if the commercial breaks are shorter but more frequent, for example. As a Foolish colleague of mine commented earlier, the frequency of commercial breaks is already enough to make a lot of us feel just a bit ADD. Breaking up the story too many times for quickie breaks might rile up even more of the self-righteous indignation that many viewers already feel.