Every night we spend a little time to watch some news – on our local channel or on one of the larger networks that offer reviews of the most important topics of the day. When using the over-the-air channels or streaming services like Roku we understand that advertising is necessary to cover the cost for the broadcasting company. Usually, it is actually these interruptions of the news cast that ultimately put me to sleep prematurely and make me miss the very news that I was looking to consume! Sometimes I do pay attention though and what is increasingly disturbing to me is that the public broadcasters fill their advertisement slots with self-advertising – so if I watch the CBS news roundup they are pushing for me to watch their CBS morning show, similar things are happening on NBC news and others. As I am processing this, I am truly wondering – I am already their “client” since I am watching their channel. This means I know that channel exists and since they are focused on news there is a continuous stream of news or regional stories not just in the narrow field of politics but also others like entertainment – so I know that. And further yet it is not only self-advertising but during a 30 min newscast the same clip is shown a felt ten times or more. Increasingly this is building a reaction in me, that makes me look online for the news and read articles or watch brief videos instead of sitting through the broadcasted news. This approach requires effort, but I am noticing now that I am ever more willing to expense this effort to be spared from the eleventh iteration of the CBS mornings clip with Gale King and her guests or NBC news host Lester Holt and his stories. It is logical that the news channel has a harder time to tune the advertisement to me as an individual viewer – very different from the browsers that appear to track the interaction history. Still, I am thinking that the usual suspects – like pharma clips, or travel adds would lead to a more material outcome for the advertisers and subsequently for the news channels. It is not clear to me how the loop closes when you just talk about yourself. Perhaps the viewership numbers make for bragging rights and that is worth the expense. Doing a little research quickly points towards the reasons – filling un-sold advertising slots, preventing viewers from channel surfing and building credibility towards their news with self-promotion of good journalism. Apparently, viewers are generally loyal, and the stations are seeking to keep it that way. If my personal inclination to be self-sufficient and in that way in control of my time and in control of how my attention is used, is any indication of a viewership trend at large, things are not looking good!