Podcast of TV CONFIDENTIAL Show No. 499.8: This Week in TV History: The First Televised Commercial is available for listening on demand

The First Televised Commercial
Original Airdates: June 26-28, 2020
TVC 499.8: From June 2011: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the first TV commercial to be sanctioned by the FCC—a ten-second spot for Bulova watches (“America runs on Bulova time”), which NBC-TV affiliate WNBT (now WNBC) aired on July 1, 1941 before the start of the broadcast of a Major League Baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies. The price of the ad was nine dollars—four dollars for the air time, five dollars for station charges, according to Advertising Age magazine.

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