On NFL Thanksgiving menu: Six-second ads

People tuning into Fox Sports to watch football on Thanksgiving Day may be distracted from their turkeyeating bliss by a new type of commercial: six-second messages from brands that take over most of the screen, relegating the broadcast of the game to a small square on the side.

The ads, which Fox has been trying out during the Major League Baseball playoffs, are a spin on the sixsecond commercials that Fox Networks Group first tested in August. By appearing on the same screen as the game, and popping up between plays, the ads are meant to be less disruptive than traditional commercial breaks.

The National Football League, which is dealing with falling TV ratings, has said it is looking for ways to reduce the commercial time during games. Nine of the “doublebox ads” will play during the Thanksgiving game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions. They will replace one standard commercial block, which typically last two minutes and 20 seconds. Depending on audience reaction, the ads could become a regular feature during NFL games across networks.

“We are working with Fox on a viewer study that involves watching fans watch the game, including their biometrics,” said Amanda Herald, vice president of media strategy and business development at the NFL.

She noted that networks have been using the doublebox format in 30-second increments this season.

When the six-second ads run, “we’ll look at whether they’re more engaged at that moment — for example, heart rate, skin response,” she said. “We’ll also then ask those fans after the game about their sentiment toward the broadcast. Did it feel more commercialized than typical or less because it had one less ad break?”

The effort shows the willingness of both broadcasters and sports leagues to experiment with their long-held formulas for ads as they grapple with cord-cutters and viewers in the internet era, who are increasingly impatient with frequent commercial breaks. Roger Goodell, the NFL’s commissioner, said in March that the league was taking several steps to improve the fan viewing experience, including working with broadcasters to “avoid untimely breaks in the action.”

“We know how annoying it is when we come back from a commercial break, kick off, and then cut to a commercial again,” Goodell said in an open letter to fans. “I hate that too. Our goal is to eliminate it.”