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Hate commercials? Good news: You might see fewer of them.
Media companies, including Time Warner Inc., 21st Century Fox Inc. and Viacom Inc., have started cutting back on commercials after years of squeezing in as many ads as possible.
The new strategy is an attempt to appeal to younger viewers, who are more accustomed to watching shows ad-free on online streaming serv-ices like Netflix Inc., and to advertisers concerned their messages are being ignored.
Time Warner’s truTV will cut its ad load in half for prime-time original shows starting late next year, CEO Jeff Bewkes said last week on an earnings call. Viacom has recently slashed commercial minutes at its networks, which include Comedy Central and MTV. Earlier this month Fox said it will offer viewers of its shows on Hulu the option to watch a 30-second interactive ad instead of a typical 2-1/2-minute commercial break.
TV networks are under more pressure to scale back on commercials as viewers have more options than ever to watch shows ad-free. Google Inc.’s YouTube and Hulu LLC recently introduced ad-free subscription services, joining Netflix and Amazon.com Inc.
