WWE And USA Plan To Use Picture-In-Picture Approach During Commercial Break On SmackDown Live

Broadcasting and Cable is reporting that NBC Universal and WWE will be making changes to the way commercials are presented to us, the viewers. The plan is to use the picture-in-picture approach during commercials so viewers will still see the action in the ring on a small screen while commercials play in a larger second screen.

This has actually been done once a few months ago on two episodes of Smackdown Live as a test.  NBCU says that ratings were up 13% during the breaks when they did the picture-in-picture test run last year. 

The idea is that people will stay glued to the action going on and will not flip the channel and/or look away during commercials. It's supposed to appeal to the advertisers. 

NBCU's vice president says that  “A huge fan base that not only watches it live, but also watches the commercials and pays attention to the commercials. That’s part of what we’re trying to build and part of the reason why we’re doing picture in picture.”