"Mini-mercials" are the latest craze to hit television, and ESPN will begin airing them this May. You probably have noticed the little spots during PTI breaks to keep you glued to the ads, but these will be different. Instead of the hosts jumping back on randomly, digital billboards will appear for certain companies before segments. Via the New York Times....

Beginning May 15, Coors will begin a two-month campaign of the new 10-second billboards, called mini-mercials, that will run during evening “SportsCenter” segments on ESPN. Miller Lite will begin its campaign in mid-July.

MillerCoors will be the most extensive user of mini-mercials, but will not be the first. Asics, the manufacturer of sports shoes and sports apparel, began a short flight on last Friday evening’s “SportsCenter” that will run through the end of this month.

TV ad buying for both MillerCoors and Asics is handled by the media agency Initiative, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies. MC Media is a dedicated agency for MillerCoors that was created last fall and is a partnership between creative agency Draft FCB and Initiative.

The goal of the mini-mercial on ESPN is to bring more action to the traditional TV billboard that leads into “SportsCenter” segments. Typically, billboards leading into a program simply show the logo of the sponsor of that segment.