Duracell and personal finance company SoFi have "snapped up" some of the six-second spots Fox has set aside for its Thanksgiving broadcast of Vikings-Lions, while Disney will "air a mini trailer for 'Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi,'" according to Anthony Crupi of AD AGE. A Fox spokesperson said that "'a few other brands' have signed on" for six-second spots (Fox has set aside nine total), with at least one of the short-form units "currently up for bid." Fox Exec VP/Ad Sales Bruce Lefkowitz said, "We're reducing one commercial pod in the game, and the goal is to have 54 seconds of interruption which will generate 135 seconds of revenue." He said that Fox will present the Thanksgiving spots "in the same double-box format it used" for T-Mobile's six-second ads during the World Series. Crupi noted Discover will "unveil its first six-second spot" during Fox' broadcast of Ohio State-Michigan on Saturday, running the spot twice with "plans to air the same unit twice in the Dec. 2 Big Ten Championship Game." Meanwhile, T-Mobile -- which last month used the six-second format to promote its hurricane relief efforts during Fox' coverage of the World Series -- said that results "suggest that the short-form spots boosted viewer engagement metrics such as brand recall, likability and message recall." Although there are "other variables in the mix," Ace Metrix data showed T-Mobile's ads were "twice as potent in recall and likability as the brand's standard ads in prime-time general entertainment programming" (ADAGE.com, 11/20).
