TV Basics:
Station TV Activity by Length of Commercial
While :60s dominated early on, :10s and :20s were part of the mix. By the mid-1970s :30s accounted for about 80% of the total, as they do today. The use of :10s and :20s have declined over the years while :15s, never as significant as on the network side, currently account for only about 14% of the total. The use of :60s currently stands at 6%.

STATIONS
% OF TOTAL
  :10s :15s :20s :30s :45s :60s   :90s+
1965 16.1 — 13.3 0.8 — 69.8 * —  
1970 11.8 — 4.5 48.1 — 35.6 * —  
1975 9.1 — 0.5 79.2 — 11.2 * —  
1980 7.8 — 0.2 85.1 0.2 3.9   2.8  
1985 5.5 1.3 0.1 88.0 0.6 2.7   1.8  
1990 4.0 5.9 0.1 84.4 0.2 3.7   1.7  
1995 3.3 7.3 0.2 84.9 0.1 3.3   0.9  
1996 3.2 8.3 0.2 83.5 0.1 4.0   0.7  
1997 2.7 9.0 0.1 83.1 0.1 4.4   0.6  
1998 3.2 9.3 0.1 82.0 0.1 4.7   0.6  
1999 3.2 9.5 0.2 81.4 0.1 5.0   0.7  
2000 3.3 9.0 0.2 81.4 0.1 5.1 0.9  
2001 4.1 11.2 0.7 77.7 0.1 5.4   0.9  
2002 3.6 11.6 0.6 78.6 0.1 4.8   0.8  
2003 3.5 12.2 0.3 78.3 0.1 4.9   0.7  
2004 3.3 12.5 0.3 77.7 0.1 5.7   0.5  
2005 3.4 13.3 0.4 76.8 0.1 6.0   0.1  
2006 3.3 14.0 0.3 76.2 0.1 6.1   0.1  
2007 3.4 15.4 0.2 74.1 0.0 6.6   0.2  

Source: TNS Media Intelligence Annual Averages
*:60s and :90s+

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