I don’t know how long ITV’s been doing this, since some of the only programmes I’ve seen on ITV recently didn’t even have any adverts – Al Murray’s Happy Hour. But watching a recording of Instinct from earlier in the week, it seems that ITV’s running trails within the adverts rather than bookending them before returning to the programme.
I don’t quite know what the reason for this is. It perhaps makes the advertising spots at the start and end of the break slightly more valuable. These spots have always been premium because you’re more likely to see them as you pop out to make a cup of tea and go to the loo in the break. With the advent of trails and sponsorship bumpers, you were getting perhaps 30 seconds between the last ad and the start of the programme. This is more like 5 seconds now.
The other thinking might be that it’s to get PVR “fast forwarders” to slow down. You’re fast-forwarding and you see a trail, you press “play”. Then you see some more ads.
Perhaps, but it’s a trick that viewers will quickly learn about. Still, at least ITV isn’t doing what I saw BBC2 do the other day when watching that middling new Peter Davidson sitcom, Fear, Stress and Anger. They actually put a “Next: The Graham Norton Show” banner on screen before the programme had ended. Then the voiceover came on over the credits to reiterate that piece of vital information. It’s one thing doing it on BBC Three or during Millionaire on ITV, but anything with any sliver of drama in it should be left unmaligned.