The Commercial as Content

Saturday night live’s “MacGruber” sketches existed before pepsi bought in but now the two properties are pretty well married. To wit:



Why doesn’t SNL do all of it’s commercials like this? The troupe is often at it’s best when it’s apeing advertising. The show could make more money by charging advertisers more for their air time and the use of their writing staff. Advertisers would look hip and edgy and SNL could claim it’s “commercial free.” By simply prerecording its advertiser’s messages over the summer (like it does with it’s spoof ad’s) the show would still have time to change sets and costumes between sketches.

SNL doesn’t have to be the only show to take this initiative, Late night chat shows would also be a good fit for this style of television. This, of course, isn’t a new idea but in a time when the networks are scrambling for new ways to make money simple approaches like this can make a lot of difference.