TV Ads Loads, 2009-2013 [CHART]

TV Ads Loads, 2009-2013 [CHART]

The average American watches somewhere around 5 hours of TV per day (although that figure varies quite dramatically by age), and roughly one-quarter of that programming is advertising, details Nielsen in its latest annual “Advertising and Audiences” report, timed for the Upfront season. In fact, commercial clutter has been gradually increasing on network TV, where 14-and-a-quarter minutes of commercial aired during each hour of programming last year, up by almost one minute from 2009 (13:25).

Ad loads on cable are even larger – and have grown even more quickly over the past 5 years. Last year, 15 minutes and 38 seconds of commercials aired on average per hour of cable TV programming, up from 14 minutes and 27 seconds in 2009, though down from a peak of 16 minutes and 11 seconds in 2011. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.