If you’re familiar with consumer-brand marketing, you know the term “interstitial.” An interstitial ad is one that appears in interstices—that is, between segments of the content that customers want to experience. Like a tollbooth on a turnpike, it forces customers to stop and pay (in the form of time and attention) before proceeding on their desired path. Epitomized by the 30-second TV spot, it’s a concept that captures what advertising has been designed to do in the past, and why customers today go to such lengths to block, skip, zap, or fast-forward past it.
A version of this article appeared in the May 2008 issue of Harvard Business Review.
