Is it really a big surprise that television advertising isn't as effective as it used to be? As TV watchers -- okay, we're uber-watchers -- we know that with DVRs and TiVos we're zooming through ads, or we're channel surfing in between segments of our favorite shows, or renting/buying content in formats that allow us to avoid commercials altogether. Now, according to the Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research's TV & Technology Survey, we learn that six out of 10 marketers believe that TV advertising has become less effective in the past two years. And it's getting worse.

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(S01E16) Oh, Kevin, how can you be so stupid! Threatening to bury that little jerk in litigation was a total lack of denial about Chad being gay. Jeez! The way to approach it would have been to say you're going to sue him for ruining YOUR reputation. Then, it would have seemed more like neither of you are gay. And you call yourself a lawyer?

NBC is really thinking of new advertising strategies, eh?

First they have all the product placement and product placement plots on shows like 30 Rock, The Office, and Studio 60, and now they've reached a deal with Philips Electronics for the company to be the lone sponsor of next Monday's edition of NBC Nightly News. It's part of a $2 million deal the network did with Philips, and will include other cable shows and their weather network.

Of course, one sponsor has been done several times before, even this season. Smith had an episode that was completely sponsored by The Departed, the recent Martin Scorcese crime flick. It was presented with fewer commercial interruption, or however they phrase it. The NBC Nightly News will be presented the same way. Instead of having fourteen commercials during the 30 minute show there will be three, all by Philips.

Reminds me of the days when one company would sponsor a show. The Colgate Comedy Hour or Milk of Magnesia sponsoring the game shows in the 50s. All that was stopped when the sponsors started having too much input into how the shows were done, but I wonder if were inching towards something similar now.