“10 seconds in, why am I watching?” That’s what an ex Goodby Silverstein planner once asked me many years ago when I was reading him a tv script I had written. Apparently, that’s what Jeff Goodby would often ask writers when hearing them read their scripts.

If you hadn’t captured the viewer by the 10 second mark then chances are you weren’t going to get them at all. Such was the change in the viewing behaviour of tv audiences 10 years ago.

Today that has changed even more. Watch popular clips on Youtube and you undoubtedly have noticed that ads are allowing you to skip at the 5 second mark. Truth be known, you’ve made up your mind by the 2 second mark and the remaining 3 seconds until you hit the ‘skip’ button are taking an eternity.

It seems if we want our tv ads to be popular on Youtube we better make damn sure the first 2 seconds are awesome. So no 25 second build to a big reveal. No gags at the end. no ads like this one from 10 years ago (still one of my favorites).