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 total commercials; while still dominant, :30s have been on the decline and now account for 71.2% of the total. The use of :10s and :20s have declined over the years while :15s have been rising slowly and now account for 17% of the total. The use of :60s currently stands at 7.6%.

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  
2008 3.4 17.0 0.4 71.2 0.1 7.6   0.3  

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

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