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So . . . like most people, for the past while I have been watching television mostly commercial-free, either on DVD or recorded and we fast-forward through the ads. This is because I, like most of you, believe that the ads detract from my enjoyment of the tv-watching experience (except for Two and Half Men, because when the enjoyment is zero, there is no ability to detract).

But a research study published in the Journal of Consumer Research has shown that people actually enjoy watching television more when there are ads. Without getting into the technical details of what they did, they had two groups of people each watch an episode of "Taxi," one with commercial interruptions and one without. They then asked the viewers to rate how enjoyable the experience was, and those who were forced to watch commercials actually liked the show better (but not the commercials themselves).

Just goes to show that we don't actually know what we'll enjoy, because pretty much everyone (including participants in a related study) would expect they like the shows better without the ads. It may be that our (perceived) dislike for ads causes us to remove them (when possible), even though this diminish the enjoyment we get from the show.

Now, I would suggest to you that you try this for yourself and watch a show without skipping the commercials, but it would be to no avail. Your confirmation bias will kick in and you'll enjoy it less with the ads, because you're thinking about it too much. After all, you probably had the same reaction I did when I first heard about this study - that this may be so for most people, but not for me! I enjoy it more without the ads. I just know I do. Don't I?

Gotta go - Two and a Half Men is on.