Why do commercials exist?

One person in particular, a Madison Avenue ad man named Rosser Reeves, effectively led the charge in annoying the crap out of people with TV commercials. read more

It’s difficult to pinpoint when advertising first appeared. Some say as early as 500 B.C., when folks began walking around with signs promoting goods they had for sale. read more

So, part of the national model is to allow for the local stations to sell certain slots of commercials. A cut of that goes to the local affiliate, and a cut of that goes to the national network. There are some premium channels, like HBO and Cinemax, which charge $15 a month or so, and they do not have any commercials. read more