Many in the animation community have worked on commercials, such as Chester Cheetos, a talking bleach bottle, insurance company ads and the ever present Charmin Bears and their leave behind problems.
Commercials have the highest budgets above any other type of production. The advertiser only has 30 seconds to convince the viewer to buy their brand of toilet paper. Frame for frame a commercial costs more then even LORD OF THE RINGS.
Products that are being advertised are the “investors” in commercial. This is where the money comes from. It is the commercial that needs to equally appealing to the content in order to persuade people to buy the products. This is why advertisers are so careful in their placement of the commercials.
It is the commercial that is the first generator of revenue for the TV Networks. And it is the thing that drives people to the theaters to see a movie. Without commercial where will the revenue come from?
This is the debate the industry is facing today. With DVR, Hulu, Netflix, the viewer doesn’t have to sit through commercials.
Next: Where is the money without Commercials?