With the advertising market improving, some media companies are saying they're trying to reduce the number of commercials they pack into shows.

A Viacom spokesperson this week confirmed the company is reducing its ad load during primetime. The company has been notorious for stuffing some of its shows with so many ads that it could fit only five half-hour shows into a three-hour programming block.

The move comes as ratings are eroding, partly because of competition with streaming services, many of which are either commercial free or have greatly reduced commercial loads.

Among other programmers, Turner Broadcasting recently announced plans to cut commercial loads on its truTV network next year; Discovery said that with ratings up, it was running fewer commercials on some of its networks; and for two seasons Fox has been running its hit Empire with fewer commercial interruptions.

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman talked about cutting ad loads during an investor conference in September. Viacom has been working on non-Nielsen metrics to sell advertising as more of its younger viewers watch on non-traditional platforms. The company has introduced products like Viacom Vantage, which is designed to capture viewer engagement on digital, mobile and social platforms. Dauman said Vantage was a major driver of its upfront sales and that those initiatives would be taking effect during the new broadcast season.

“With those kicking in we’ll be in position — we’ve been talking to a lot of advertisers about it, which they like — to reduce ad load in primetime across our networks, which will improve the consumer experience and drive pricing,” Dauman said.

Viacom declined to be more specific about which networks and shows have lower ad loads, or how that’s affecting revenue. He might address the issue during Viacom’s earnings report Thursday (Nov. 12).

According to stats compiled by analyst Todd Juenger of Sanford C. Bernstein, the number of commercial hours in Viacom’s non-kid primetime programming (not including sports and news) rose 1% from a year ago. Viacom reduced the amount of promotion material it runs, so its total commercial and promo hours were down 1% for the quarter. Other media companies, including A+E Networks, Time Warner, 21st Century Fox and the Walt Disney Co. increased commercial hours by more than 2% during the quarter.

On Time Warner Inc.’s earnings call, CEO Jeff Bewkes stressed the importance of improving the consumer experience, and said its networks were looking for opportunities to reduce ad load, as with truTV.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

In a new report, analyst Todd Juenger of Sanford C. Bernstein, says the big third quarter drop in C3 ratings for ad-supported TV is largely the fault of subscription video on demand players like Netflix and Amazon. And that the erosion is likely to increase.

Checking data from both Nielsen and Rentrak, Juenger believes the decline is real and not just a measurement error.

"We don't believe people stopped watching stuff. We believe they are watching it in different ways. We examine all the evidence at hand and come to a strong conclusion that SVOD is primarily to blame," he says. "It seems SVOD is no longer incremental, it has become cannibalistic (especially in the summer, when linear TV is at its weakest)."

"Viewers like SVOD because it offers programming on demand, without advertising and offers a pleasing interface and helpful recommendations," Juenger says.

"Hence, we don't think those viewers are coming back. The trend is more likely to accelerate than decline," says Juenger, who predicts another 4% decline in linear TV because of increased viewing of Netflix alone.

Read the full story at B&C.