h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...or are ad breaks on tv getting longer? it seems that I can now go to the loo and make a cup of tea in the same ad break and come back in time for the last ad or two. Never used to be able to get all that in before. And it seems to be all the same ads too. If I see one more ad for injury claims, online gambling or car insurance I think I'll cry.

What about ads for baby milk and laundry detergent?

I don't know if they're longer. Some channels, like Discovery, seem to have shorter ad breaks and SkyArts has an ad break every 30 minutes, or so it is in my experience.

As far as I'm aware standard ad breaks are 3 minutes long. Maybe you're getting faster?

Maybe you're right.

Yeah those baby ads and laundry detergent ones are a pain too. There's one for some washing powder that shows white clothes with grass stains and stuff on them. At the end of the ad it shows the person holding them up to show the stains have gone, but the way they do it, their arm and a shadow is hiding where the stain was. Doesn't convince me.

Another thing that bugs me are the ad breaks that they show within the first 5 m9inutes of a programme, barely letting the opening credits finish.

dunno about getting longer, but the ads themselves are certainly getting more annoying
the one that annoys most is the 2 guys in the coffee shop talkin (i think )about insurance, when a really annoyin guy in a suit ,with a really crap hairstyle,and a moustache that looks like a bolt of lightning starts singing all Pavarotti style (but badly, i might add)
i just wanna throw somthing at the TV when i see it

Oh yeah, that ad is a pain!!!

I've taken to muting the tv when certain ads come on. That one for Red driving instructors bugs me. Think it's the ringing phone that really does it.

i usually find that's the only time i can't find the remote ..lol

Yeah that makes it worse! Although I sometimes find I'm sitting on the remote.

Yup!

Well I sometimes worry when an add break is coming up. I think 'Ill just quickly make that cup of tea or load up the dishwasher (exciting stuff indeed) but think the program will be back on and I'll miss it...

Yeah there's always that side of things too. Comes in handy when you've a tv in the kitchen in cases like that.

I think they do it on purpose. Ad breaks are - what? - 3 minutes long? So then it's never enough time to fill and boil the kettle AND make a cup of tea. Or to fill the disher... They just want you glued to the TV.

i agree with you they are getting longer. or so it seems

What the bleep is the deal at the moment with all these 'unwanted gold' adverts? I dunno... But Ijust never imagined there was that* much gold just laying about in peoples homes and they're definately longer; Ionly ever really watch TV whilst I'm away over Xmas/new year, and so they're defiantely seeming a lot longer now than they did back this time last year, the last time Iwatched TV They also seem to have reached new levels of the amounts of repeats this year; sometimes even on the same day showing the same thing... or consecutive days, and even on the first of those days its a repeat from a few months earlier anyhow and repeating quizz shows? I just don't understand (makes me glad I don't bother with owning a \TV anymore though....)

I think they're getting longer, more frequent and more irritating - but I love the 'operatic insurance' ones - especially the look on the blokes faces in the cafe !

When that one originally came out (two blokes in coffee shop), it was obvious at the end that the one on the right was about to "corpse" after he said "I dunno, he's only a tenor". But they have snipped the very last bit off so it is not obvious any more. Pity, it was quite funny seeing him trying not to laugh.