LONDON (Reuters) - Has television become so bad that viewers will shun the programmes to watch nothing but advertisements?
Programmers will soon find out when the world's first channel devoted exclusively to adverts launches in September, allowing viewers to tune in 24 hours a day to their favourite 30-second spots for Guinness, Walkers and Yellow Pages.
Chelsey Baker, co-founder of the Advert Channel, promises more than just a running reel of recent and nostalgic advertisements, however.
The channel, which is in a test-run now on BSkyB before its full launch in six weeks, will have presenters fielding calls from viewers about their favourite adverts, along with other original programming.
There will be a game show with advert trivia, behind-the-scenes programming that opens a window onto the creative process for making adverts and "So You Think You Can Do It Better", which will invite viewers to use their personal video cameras to try and outdo the agencies.
"We're looking at advertising as a form of entertainment," Baker said.
The company's own research two years ago found that about 4,000 ads were downloaded each day off the Internet.
"There's a huge demand for people wanting to see adverts," she said.
Advert Channel hopes to lure plenty of viewers from the advertising world itself, which it expects will be unable to resist the lure of free ad time and donate all the programming it needs to bolster the library of 1,000 adverts it already holds from decades past.
"The ad world will have to keep a careful watch as to what's said on the channel because, for example, so many viewers say they don't even remember what products certain adverts were for," Baker said.
But who will pay for the programming on a channel with nothing but ads that are running for free?
The channel expects to generate revenue by charging viewers to call in and vote for their favourite ads and to download the most popular ones onto their mobile phones from a related Web site.
And just to make sure viewers have time to get up and make a cup of tea, the Advert Channel also will have nine minutes of paid advertising per hour.
Programmers will soon find out when the world's first channel devoted exclusively to adverts launches in September, allowing viewers to tune in 24 hours a day to their favourite 30-second spots for Guinness, Walkers and Yellow Pages.
Chelsey Baker, co-founder of the Advert Channel, promises more than just a running reel of recent and nostalgic advertisements, however.
The channel, which is in a test-run now on BSkyB before its full launch in six weeks, will have presenters fielding calls from viewers about their favourite adverts, along with other original programming.
There will be a game show with advert trivia, behind-the-scenes programming that opens a window onto the creative process for making adverts and "So You Think You Can Do It Better", which will invite viewers to use their personal video cameras to try and outdo the agencies.
"We're looking at advertising as a form of entertainment," Baker said.
The company's own research two years ago found that about 4,000 ads were downloaded each day off the Internet.
"There's a huge demand for people wanting to see adverts," she said.
Advert Channel hopes to lure plenty of viewers from the advertising world itself, which it expects will be unable to resist the lure of free ad time and donate all the programming it needs to bolster the library of 1,000 adverts it already holds from decades past.
"The ad world will have to keep a careful watch as to what's said on the channel because, for example, so many viewers say they don't even remember what products certain adverts were for," Baker said.
But who will pay for the programming on a channel with nothing but ads that are running for free?
The channel expects to generate revenue by charging viewers to call in and vote for their favourite ads and to download the most popular ones onto their mobile phones from a related Web site.
And just to make sure viewers have time to get up and make a cup of tea, the Advert Channel also will have nine minutes of paid advertising per hour.