ESPN Scrolling Information Bar

[Raiders Army]

Okay, sometimes I'm not the most observant of people but my wife pointed out at lunch today that the ESPN info bar on the bottom stays there during the commercials. I was like, when did that happen?

The other thing my wife noticed was the decreasing bar on the left that showed you how much time it was until the next topic (e.g. NFL, NBA, etc.).

[gstelmack]

I've seen the time bar before, but the "during commercials" thing is definitely hit-or-miss. My guess is some companies are paying "extra" not to have the info bar up during the commercials.

[rkmsuf]

File this under "fascinating".

[st.cronin]

I dunno, I would pay more to have my ad running with the scrolling info bar ... on the theory that it would hold viewer's attention. I know nothing about marketing, though.

[digamma]

Only on ESPN News, right?

[Raiders Army]

It was on ESPN today during lunch. I was watching Monday Quarterback and it was on. I'm not a die-hard ESPNer, but I do watch occassionally. This is the first time I've seen the info bar on commercials. Has it been on before?

Edit--Ah yes, ESPN News. My bad. I didn't even know what channel I was watching. Damn you ESPN for having so many channels!!!

[vtbub]

Yeah, that's an ESPNEWS program which leaves their ticker running except local breaks.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I've seen the time bar before, but the "during commercials" thing is definitely hit-or-miss. My guess is some companies are paying "extra" not to have the info bar up during the commercials.

The bar actually remains for all commercials. However, local cable companies and satellite providers sell and run thier own commercials (with a percentage goijng back to ESPN) and those commercials run full screen. So durung the local commercials, you wont see the Score Bar. Ever notice at the end of a commercial you catch the last 1/2 second of some other ad? That's a local commercial ending earlier than a network add.

One other tidbit - remember the strange tones you used to hear on cable, kind of like a phone dialing really fast? That was a network signal to the cable companies that let their computers know when and how long the next commercial break woukd last so they could run their local ads.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

One other tidbit - remember the strange tones you used to hear on cable, kind of like a phone dialing really fast? That was a network signal to the cable companies that let their computers know when and how long the next commercial break woukd last so they could run their local ads.

Ah yes, good ol' audible tones.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

The bar actually remains for all commercials. However, local cable companies and satellite providers sell and run thier own commercials (with a percentage goijng back to ESPN) and those commercials run full screen. So durung the local commercials, you wont see the Score Bar. Ever notice at the end of a commercial you catch the last 1/2 second of some other ad? That's a local commercial ending earlier than a network add.

One other tidbit - remember the strange tones you used to hear on cable, kind of like a phone dialing really fast? That was a network signal to the cable companies that let their computers know when and how long the next commercial break woukd last so they could run their local ads.

Wow. Very cool. Didn't know about the phone dialing thing.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

File this under "fascinating".

meow!

[Butter]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

One other tidbit - remember the strange tones you used to hear on cable, kind of like a phone dialing really fast? That was a network signal to the cable companies that let their computers know when and how long the next commercial break woukd last so they could run their local ads.

I remember that especially on CNN and TBS, yeah. Very interesting.