MindShare report shows minimal jump in Clutter for Broadcast & Cable Networks.

While broadcast and cable networks kept their clutter relatively flat in 2006 versus previous years, they are still running on average 15 minutes of non-program material per hour in primetime, according to MindShare’s annual Clutter Watch. The study, which identifies trends based on an analysis of prime-time commercial minutes and non-program minutes data from TNS, found one exception in FOX News. The cable news network increased more than 10% to 15 minutes and 10 seconds per hour in non-program minutes over 2005.

In 2006, ABC and NBC were the only broadcast networks to increase their total commercial time, to 13:04 and 12:48, respectively. ABC again emerged as the leader in total non-program minutes with 15:38, a slight increase from 15:26 in 2005.

Once again cable networks had more clutter than broadcast. While FOX News had the largest increase compared to 2005 and the most commercial minutes of all the cable networks (13:05), MTV was the leader in total non-program minutes (16:09).

“Despite concerns from the industry and research that shows clutter’s negative effects on both commercials and programs, over-commercialization continues to be a problem,” said Debbie Solomon, senior partner, research director, MindShare. “However, it is promising to see that the broadcast and cable networks held their clutter in check or even decreased it as compared to previous years.”

Several networks have tried different tactics to present advertiser messages in new ways, from changing commercial pod placement to shortening pod length. Further, brands and networks have increased their use of branded entertainment initiatives. A 2006 report from TNS revealed that 35%, or 21 minutes, of every primetime hour includes some kind of branded messaging.

New to Clutter Watch this year is the inclusion of data on Spanish language broadcast networks. The report revealed that Spanish language networks have less clutter overall and run fewer network commercials than English language networks.

“Historically this report has focused on primetime clutter on English language broadcast and cable networks, but with the explosive growth of the Hispanic market, it’s important to track the trends on Spanish language networks,” noted Solomon.