U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for July 2: First TV Commercial

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Jul 02, 2017, 00:01 ET

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

JULY 2: FIRST TV COMMERCIAL

Profile America — Sunday, July 2nd. "America runs on Bulova time." That declaration was the entire audio portion of the first advertisement appearing on a commercial television station. The rather subdued ad was broadcast on New York station WBNT this month in 1941, the first TV ad with the sanction of the Federal Communications Commission. The 10-second spot appeared in a Brooklyn Dodgers game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Consisting of nothing more than the image of a ticking clock, the ad cost Bulova just $9. TV commercials have grown vastly more sophisticated since the 1941 experiment. Creating new commercials contributes to the $60 billion in annual revenue earned by the nation's 14,000 video and motion picture production outlets. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 2341

Robertson's Book of Firsts/page 460:

Bulova/accessed 4/20/2017: www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/history-advertising-no-112-worlds-first-tv-commercial/1320425

Motion picture & video production/County Business Patterns/NAICS 51211:

https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2015/00A1//naics~51211

Revenue/Economic Census/NAICS 51211: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2012_US/00A1//naics~51211

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau