User:Ponderossa

Seatbelts (Television)

MuchMusic has started a TV Canadian first, Seatbelting during commercials. ‘Seatbelts’ a term coined by Justin Stockman, refers to keeping viewers in their seats during commercial breaks.

The first use and a brief explanation of the seat belt is best explained by Justin Stockman himself, “The first use of the seatbelt is proposed for use during MuchMusic’s daily live flagship show, MuchOnDemand. Each commercial break would be nested within a strip along the right side and bottom of the screen. The bottom right corner of the strip, or buckle of the seatbelt, would include a live camera of the continuing action happening on the MuchOnDemand set even though the show is on break. This live content window could include visuals of the show’s hosts getting instructions from their director, celebrity guests signing autographs with fans, or musicians setting up for their performance. In the bottom strap, we could include a countdown clock that lets viewers know how many seconds until the commercials are over and the small content window goes full screen again. The nested content would have no audio, so that the commercial’s audio can be fully heard by viewers. The seatbelt would be of benefit to both viewers and media buyers in helping to solve the commercial break paradox. Viewers don’t stop receiving content and are more likely to stay tuned, reducing the risk of losing viewers who may flip channels and not come back. It’s a way to get more viewers to sit through the full commercial break.”

Seatbelts were used during the Roger’s Presents Fall Out Boy Live In The Lot at MuchMusic headquarters music show. The commercial breaks included trivia about the band, the upcoming songs, and showed video footage of the band setting up for the next song, and interacting with their fans.

Most recently, Seatbelts were used in the 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards. During the commercial breaks questions scrawlled across the bottom of the screen allowing people to enter the 10K contest, behind the scnese footage aired in the lower right hand corner, and a countdown clock to when we would be back to the show was in the top right corner.

The Seatbelt always has the same placement on screen, but it’s graphical look changes based on which show it is used for, to allow for consistency.