Commercials, Advertising | featured news

TiVo is working with advertisers and agencies to develop PayPal-enabled commercials, allowing people to make instant purchases through interactive ads on their video recorders.

Google's Eric Schmidt faces a wary audience of British television professionals on Friday following a major acquisition that could turn Google TV into a real competitor for TV advertising dollars.

When Asian Americans appear in advertising, they typically are presented as the technological experts — knowledgeable, savvy, perhaps mathematically adept or intellectually gifted. They’re most often shown in ads for business-oriented or technical products — smartphones, computers, pharmaceuticals, electronic gear of all kinds.

After years of promises and false starts, TV commercials targeted at individual homes may finally be ready for prime time. DirecTV Group is planning the biggest rollout yet of "addressable ads," allowing advertisers to reach close to 10 million homes with commercials tailored to each household. Dog owners, for instance, could see ads for dog food, not kitty litter, while families with children could be shown minivan spots.

And now, a word from our sponsors. A very brief word. TV commercials are shrinking along with attention spans and advertising budgets.

Toyota dealers in five southeast states have pulled their commercials off ABC TV local affiliates, complaining about the coverage of Toyota safety problems by ABC News and its chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross.

The ad agency representing the 173 dealers told ABC affiliates last week that the shift was due to "excessive stories on the Toyota issues." The dealers shifted their commercial time buys to non-ABC stations in the same markets, "as punishment for the reporting," according to an ABC station manager.