Why so few commercials today?

[ol-crank]

At the begining of this season. Gof Channel covered some tournaments and over the last few hours on sunday they must have spent about 30% of the time showing commercials. I really enjoyed today with very few, and short commercials. Why was this?

[ThatCanadianGuy]

They do it every year for the Masters, and maybe even all majors I don't know.

56 minutes of every hour was golf coverage.

The other 4 mins were IBM,ExonMobile, And at&t commercials.

[warbirdlover]

The Masters is the only one they do that for due to the Augusta CC demanding commercial free golf or something like that....

[rexdarby]

Yeah I liked how short the commercials were, but aggravated at the same time how it was practically the same commercials over and over from at&t, IBM, and exxon.

[ol-crank]

in the Callaway commercial where he has them provide the Fi driver so he could swing as hard as he wants and still hit the fairway. Kind of ironic considering how badly he played. Still is was great not suffering through mostly crappy commercials.

[gwlee7]

Originally Posted by rexdarby

Yeah I liked how short the commercials were, but aggravated at the same time how it was practically the same commercials over and over from at&t, IBM, and exxon.

Well if half of the members of your club that was putting a tournament on TV worked for/owned Exxon, IBM, and AT&T, who would you have help sponsoring it? I am sure the blue bloods at Augusta National own their fair share of these guys.

[ualtim]

Augusta National's television contract is a whole lot different than any other tournements television contract. The folks at Augusta National (and in reality, Clifford Roberts) thought the viewing public would enjoy a golf telecast with less commercial interuptions so it is in their contract that there will be no more than 4 mins of commercial in 60 minutes of coverage. In order to pull this off, they do no get as much money from CBS as other tournements get. A lot of the things most folks enjoy about televised golf was initiated by Augusta National's demands over the years to improve the golf telecast from year to year. They are willing to accept less money in order to have increased input on how the event will be televised.

Like them or hate them, the folks at Augusta National produce arguably the best televised golf tournment of the year.

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by ualtim

Augusta National's television contract is a whole lot different than any other tournements television contract. The folks at Augusta National (and in reality, Clifford Roberts) thought the viewing public would enjoy a golf telecast with less commercial interuptions so it is in their contract that there will be no more than 4 mins of commercial in 60 minutes of coverage. In order to pull this off, they do no get as much money from CBS as other tournements get. A lot of the things most folks enjoy about televised golf was initiated by Augusta National's demands over the years to improve the golf telecast from year to year. They are willing to accept less money in order to have increased input on how the event will be televised.

Like them or hate them, the folks at Augusta National produce arguably the best televised golf tournment of the year.

You nailed that one...they want their 'patrons' either in person or at home to have the best time possible...

My biggest issue with the short commercials was having enough time to pee before the action started again.....

[mont86]

Originally Posted by ol-crank

in the Callaway commercial where he has them provide the Fi driver so he could swing as hard as he wants and still hit the fairway. Kind of ironic considering how badly he played. Still is was great not suffering through mostly crappy commercials.

Thats what I was thinking yesterday watching Phils commercial, how life imitates art.

I have noticed that in Pro Football, they interview a player who been on a hot streak on the pre-game show and go a blow it that day on the field.

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by Bravo

My biggest issue with the short commercials was having enough time to pee before the action started again.....

Yupper. You get so used to having so many commercials on the other events that you are kind shocked by the minimal time of interupted coverage. I normally have time to let the dogs out in the yard for several minutes, visit the lav, let the dogs in, and get something to eat in one commercial break. With the Masters, that same routine cost me several minutes of golf coverage.

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

Actually, there were a lot more commercials shown by CBS for this televising of the Masters than in years past. I believe it used to be only 4 minutes of commercials per hour, 1 minute every 15 minutes approximately. They also used to start off the telecasts with an announcement about limited commercial interruption, but that's changed.

Still, it wasn't nearly as much commercials as seen during the NCAA tournament.

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

Of course, my mental calculator could be off, but I'm relatively sure that there were much more than 4 minutes of advertisement time per hour.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Originally Posted by Ravenous Bugblatter Beast

Of course, my mental calculator could be off, but I'm relatively sure that there were much more than 4 minutes of advertisement time per hour.

I did see the announcement about the minimal comm. breaks. 56 mins of every hour would be golf.

[ginsu]

That's why it seems like a lot more commercials than in recent years. Back in '03 when the big Martha Burke women in Augusta flap was going hot and heavy, ANGC wrote a letter to their sponsors and said essentially, "thanks, but no thanks." They released sponsor obligation and opted to run commercial free in that year and, I believe, the following year so as not to risk the reputation of the sponsors (some of whom have prominent places in ANGC membership) on the club's position on the private membership issue. In '05 they went back to the old "limited interruption" format, but after only the legally required station ID breaks for a couple years, any commercials seems like a lot. Still, it is the best TV coverage in golf, and makes me miss my Georgia home every year!