If you ask someone who is not a fan of American sports, what are the top 3 things that put them off watching, undoubtedly everyone will have continuous ad breaks right up there.
Watching the World Cup on RTÉ this summer could have that American sport feel. According to The Sunday Times, our national broadcaster will be taking advantage of an opportunity to air ads during designated cooling breaks at this summer's tournament in Brazil which could be implemented due to high temperatures in many host cities. FIFA will decide an hour before a game if the breaks are necessary to ensure player safety.
World Cup matches will be interrupted by two, three minute “cooling breaks” if the heat in stadiums exceeds 32c.
— Ben Smith (@BenSmithBBC) April 3, 2014
World Cup 'cooling breaks' would take place in the 30th and 75th minutes. Teams can return to their respective benches
— Ben Smith (@BenSmithBBC) April 3, 2014
RTÉ's Dermot Rigley says that one 30-second ad is likely to be run as they "don’t want to run any risk of missing the return to play." The possibility of missing play will also be negated by twenty-five second buffers either side of the commercial breaks.
FIFA sponsors and partners get first refusal on these slots. So you would have to wonder that if these brands take a liking to these premium ad placements where viewer attention is at a high level, could breaks in play for commercials become a feature of broadcasts beyond the World Cup?
Also, will the Americanisation of RTÉ's football coverage stop there? Will we see Liam Brady talking straight into the camera? Will Eamon Dunphy describe Leo Messi as being 'clutch'? Will they start selling off the sponsorship of every little segment of the broadcast?
They should do 'Billo's Made Up Fact of the Day sponsored by Tullamore Sewage' just for the hell of it.
