The World's First Ever TV Ad

The first ever ad was for Bulova watches in 1941. It cost a whopping $9 (just $4 dollars more than this reconstruction cost).
I found the film here on KZbin - • De 1941: el primer com...
But there wasn't any voiceover for it. So I went to fiverr.com and hired the wonderful Dawg (fiverr.com/abcdawg) to recreate what many documenters say was there.
Five minutes of Final Cut tinkering later and - tada - here we are.
I recreated the ad for a lecture I was doing at schoolcommunica... but thought I may as well put it up here for any other advertising geeks to see.
Enjoy.

[@superpan218]

*1941:* America runs on Bulova time. *2019:* America runs on Dunkin.

[@violentnight4175]

2021: America runs on tax payers

[@Chocolatemilkdrinkerhi]

2022: America runs on football

[@aj1.]

America doesn't run

[@loveplane737]

@@aj1. speedrun?

[@ImJustARandomCommenter]

no, it OIL!

[@chistinelane]

those people must have been like "wtf was that!"

[@stircrazyvidz8530]

I'm guessing it was announced on the radio beforehand to let people know when to expect it. Just like today every year at Christmas we are told when the John Lewis ad and other big brands are going to broadcast theirs

[@bananaassasin7514]

No bull a was extremely popular back then and they were basically thrashing Rolex and omega now it's reversed

[@MJW238]

People would have already been very used to radio commercials and show sponsorships. A lot of the shows back then literally had some corporate sponsors name in the very name of the show.

[@fatmeatball]

No, it runs on Dunkin.

[@rreeouke16527]

jtrack01 dark roasted

[@rreeouke16527]

Colombian roast

[@Fucknuts4u]

coffee makes me shit

[@rreeouke16527]

Fucknuts That's hot

[@YouTubeExplore777]

Fatmeatball historically. Now dunken

[@MassiveScore]

That was better than the Super Bowl ads this year.

[@cancerouscereal8303]

***** ikkkkeeeeeoooooooonnnnnnnnnoooooo

[@vintagetrash1754]

MassiveScore I'm from the future

[@jessespad]

Yep, no wasting time, no bullshit!

[@oiyabastard7275]

Television is propaganda and all sports is bread and circuses have you ever heard that term bread and circuses kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKDGpWNtp9inrpo

[@rblx0879]

NOOOOO PEANUT MAN

[@jph595]

I'm sold.

[@TheTimestampCommenter]

Cool where can i buy you?

[@Rhoasckm]

And thus began the journey which would eventually lead to the Billy Mays infomercials.

[@MolternK]

and Old Spice

[@xenuvelo64]

HI BILLY MAYS HERE WITH A SPECIAL TV OFFER

[@Falcon15x]

St. Shamrock I JUST SAWED THIS BOAT IN HALF

[@amandabutterfly151]

St. Shamrock oh god

[@Oddimations]

The start of the headaches

[@Jedwint]

They need to replay this ad on the super bowl on its 150th anniversary.

[@peterh5536]

I own a stack of Bulovas, probably around 40, particularly Accutrons. Wonderful watches. Dead accurate and the case and dial designs are works of art.

[@aeronovus]

Humblebrag some more boomer, or are you dead from covid?

[@joshcamarena64]

I think one sentence is enough.

[@Lampshade51]

This was NOT the famous first Bulova TV ad. The ad in question, the first paid TV ad in history, happened just before a Brooklyn Dodgers game on WNBT (now WNBC) New York at 2:29 PM on the first day of commercial television, July 1, 1941. It was a WNBT test pattern modified to look like a clock with the words "Bulova Watch Time" in the lower right hand portion. It remained on screen for one minute. Bulova wanted to be the very first TV sponsor, and the pre-show test pattern/clock guaranteed it. Still pictures of the camera shooting the test pattern exist on the internet. Search "first televised commercial".

[@Lampshade51]

See WNBT/Bulova First Commercial test pattern photo here: www.earlytelevision.org/images/rca_bulova_ad-1.jpg Further reading: Documented in a story called “Imagery For Profit” R.W. Stewart, New York Times, July 6, 1941.

[@something8969]

ITS A RECREATION

[@imrustyokay]

Something89 NOT A VERY GOOD ONE

[@duckman531]

You're exactly right, Lampshade.

[@arjunrk4573]

But some are saying the first television commercial happened in 1955 and not 1941. There are conflicting reports. the 1955 one was for a british commercial that entered american networks. it was for a toothpaste commercial.

[@luislaplume8261]

There was a Bulova watch factory in Woodside, Queens, NYC when we moved there in 1957! It was still active. It is seen at the 61st. Roosevelt Avenue Subway station of the 7 line above the Long Island Railroad station. That building was their headquarters.

[@TC-vg3pr]

If only they were this short today.

[@TheTimestampCommenter]

Fr now they are 30 secs long😑

[@goldtheostrich]

There is a second of silence then a jumpscare so i think just going straight to the ad would be smarter

[@Hadidctrl]

This is better than the 10 minutes of commercials

[@bloomingtonmowandsnow]

Straight to the point. Not cringey, "comical" or confusing. A picture of the american map, with a statement to go along with the illustration.

[@fernsdreams]

if you're confused, $9 in 1941 is worth about $160 today, so this advertisement costed a lot just to air on tv. i believe today's advertisements cost around $25 to $80 to air, but also even more. it probably depends on where you air it, how long it is, and what you're advertising for

[@goldtheostrich]

WAIT REALLY DANG-

[@bigcrackrock]

A little over 190 three years later. We're in good hands people.

[@pikuijgh]

imagine watching tv in the 40's and then you see an ad for the first time

[@harryshuman9637]

gotta install that ad block

[@romariorose-jz9pt]

@@harryshuman9637ad blockers didnt exist

[@harryshuman9637]

@@romariorose-jz9pt woosh

[@rylandawe93]

The beginning of the end...

[@Andy-gk6dj]

The car went up the hill and disappeared around the bend

[@TheTimestampCommenter]

:(

[@SporksAgainstForks]

Some watch company made this and now we out here waiting through 15-second unskippable ads to watch 10-second long videos

[@CaseyQuotes]

You are a legend if you know the Bulova "America runs on Bulova Time" ad from 1941, the first commerical ever to hit TVs. It was bought for $9 ($163.50 today), and it was nine seconds long. On July 1st, 1941, there was a big game on NBC going on, and interrupting it was the Bulova time commerical.

[@user-de1hg8cf6b]

I wished they were all this short and only one or two per commercial break that would be awesome. I know, i know we all can dream LOL 😆. Have a blessed day everyone

[@ihatehumans487]

I love this ADS so much, so short and straight to the point. ADS nowdays have no sense

[@ismaelpenalver4722]

I wish all commercials we're that short.

[@airborne2876]

Just straight and to the point, like all adds should be..

[@devanshu888]

I wish every commercials were this simple

[@TheTimestampCommenter]

Yeah

[@Daniel-jv2om]

But then, in 1927, the television was invented, and just 15 short years later, on July 1, 1942, during a Brooklyn Dodgers-Philadelphia Phillies game at Ebbets Field, the first-ever TV commercial aired. At the time, there were over 4,000 televisions in New York, and that day, while families gathered around to watch the big game on NBC, it was interrupted by the first-ever TV commercial. That ad, which was just nine seconds long and cost only $9, featured a map of America with a Bulova watch clockface in the middle. At the end of the ad, a voice announced, “America runs on Bulova time.” And with those nine seconds, the shift from search advertising to interruption advertising had officially begun. -Traffic Secrets

[@tlash1217]

Why can't ads be like this now

[@TheTimestampCommenter]

Fr!

[@timilodeon526]

0:05 *AMERICA RUNS ON BULOVA TIME*

[@guessthecountry265]

🗣🗣🔥

[@paistinlasta1805]

How to make a succesful ad in the US "America... [Something] with [Your product]"

[@84saints]

This ad ran during the 1946 Rose Bowl and cost a whopping $400 to make. People were writing so many letters to Bulova for months trying to get more information that the mailroom was soon overloaded and had to shut down

[@TelevisionLover1994]

1941:america runs on bulova time 2021:america runs on dunkin

[@samuelous]

The audio actually sounds pretty well for its time

[@davidpar2]

Donruz the audio is recreated. No recording of it from the original broadcast was made

[@samuelous]

@@davidpar2 oooh

[@johnwhittington2998]

this advert makes me feel really uneasy....like, imagine being back in 1941 and this pops up, Everyone buys Bulova's watches it's the cool thing to buy....it's very aggressive.

[@stevieg7672]

I don't think most people had television sets back in 1941. I don't even think the general populace fully grasped the idea of television until the early 1950s.

[@gumballwattersongaming]

your looking sus

[@nedtruly33]

Wanna hear something about TV? Well dig this I think it's something cool to know! Zenith made a special color TV that was designed to watch Bonanza on with the special film they used! I saw the advertisement in an old national geographic magazine.

[@fromthesidelines]

Yes, that was a "time check", albeit a sponsored one. I've heard it on various radio New York transcriptions of the '30s and '40s...and Kermit Schafer listed one in his "Bloopers" books and record albums; he claimed one announcer delivered it this way: he also read the notations in the copy that he WASN'T supposed to say on the air- "It's 8pm, 'Bulova Watch Time'. On Christmas, say 'Merry Christmas'- on New Year's, say 'Happy New Year'." Whether that really happened, I don't know...

[@chr0min0id]

Hands down the best marketing I’ve ever seen. Liberty Mutual got nothin on this.

[@originalkingalpha5116]

Let's see what Geico has to say about this.🦎

[@sonaizz]

Imagine getting this ad in any app-

[@THEHYMENSMASHER]

I doubt this is actually it, and there's a good reason. Most TV until the early 50s was live and only live, not even recorded. The west coast didn't even get decent picture quality TV because it was recorded it was via kinescope. There are various shows, ads, etc that are all lost to time before shows become recorded commonly for this reason.

[@tylerjurczyk]

america runs on dunkin donuts

[@stevesybesma]

Amazing this still exists. TV had a significant experimental history before WW2 and would have made 5 years of further commercial progress if not for that interruption. We likely may have seen ALL programming of the late '50s and early '60s in color instead of the mostly black and white that exists today. Walter Cronkite's first appearance would have been in color. All of that and much more took place in an alternate history of "what-ifs".

[@SirKingsley15]

Out of all the advertisements to start with this has to be the worst advertisement we could’ve had in the history of advertisements

[@SirKingsley15]

Still great little interesting piece of history, nevertheless

[@lamibonxd]

thanks for the vocal addition! really adds a lot :-)

[@riskidxer]

Timeline of first television advertising in many Country : 1.Seiko from Japan (1953) 2.Gibbs SR Toothpaste from UK (1955) 3.Singing Corn from Soviet Union (1964) 4.Rothman's Cigarettes and Pepsi Cola from Australia (1956)

[@Super71_lpc]

Boursin from France (1968)

[@Crudoma]

Eno Fruits Salt from Brazil (1951)

[@peelcam]

Very surprised the first ad was watches, especially bulova. Great company. Just shocked. I wish i lived in this time when ads were actually what they are trying to sell. The creativity was better too.

[@shrubbins2846]

Just goes to show time is the most important thing ever.

[@MusicOfMelodyK]

excellent analysis of this ad! 😊👍🏾

[@rubendominguez5260]

Who ever made this was the most ahead of time person in the galaxy

[@fernandop1]

Audio? TV didn't had audio before, neither did ads I guess, right?

[@oscarkorlowsky4938]

FernandoP1 - Art Zone Productions they did, you are confusing the silent period of cinema, which was by film projection by the time TV was made commercial the film cinema industry had already developed sound on film which eventually would be the basics to develop "solid state video" an image produced by photo sensitive tubes and processed entirely by electronics eventually broadcasting it to the whole country with audio of course

[@oiyabastard7275]

@@oscarkorlowsky4938 that commercial seems fake

[@stupstickman]

oiyabastard yeah the original video had no audio so he had to get someone to voice it. yes, the actual commercial in 1941 did have the “America runs on Bulova Time” thing they didn’t just make it up

[@sk4life313]

How I wish every commercial was 10 seconds

[@LongTailCat3]

what have you done

[@1ranjeeves21]

Simple and to the point.

[@sixeleven637]

"america runs on bulova time" Wow, straight to the point.

[@rickwoofs]

“The first ever ad” What a dark day.

[@reptile4130]

*1941* TV Commercial Breaks *30 seconds long* *2020* TV Commercial Breaks * 5 minutes long ugh* Me: WHY COULD’NT THE 30 SECOND BREAK STAYYYYYYY!!!!!!

[@TheTimestampCommenter]

No 10 secs

[@duckman531]

Like any well done recreation, many sources are are assuming this is the first TV commercial. The actual commercial showed a watch and said "Bulova watch time 2:29." No footage from July 1, 1941 exists because Kinescope wasn't developed until 1947.

[@slaymyface1357]

This was during a Dodgers-Phillies game btw

[@jimbaxter6678]

To be clear, this is reproduction, not the original. The Paley Center for Media confirms that “Neither a recording of the commercial nor the game survives.”

[@DaveBirss]

Thanks Jim. Hopefully I made that clear in the blurb under the film. I would have much preferred to have posted the original than spend money on recreating it!

[@ninaradenkovic-digitalnima8855]

Great! I'll use it in posts about first ad ever on my FB in IG page. Will mention you and your great job. :) Thanks!

[@caramelpro6949]

This is not the real one buddy

[@OttomagicCritic]

To anyone who genuinely believes the commercial in itself is real, the description literally says that this version has been voice-overed, and that the original commercial did not have any voice-over.

[@electrarebel5610]

Back when TV ads actually used to advertise products they wanted to sell, not agendas.

[@DanaTheInsane]

Agenda meaning things that disagree with YOUR agenda?

[@chrisc1553]

since tv had been around since the 1920s I have a hard time believing this is the first ad ever

[@StickFiguresMaster]

*watches video from 1941*

[@serijas737]

Back then Ads were just looking for your attention, not your time.

[@originalkingalpha5116]

Ad-tention?🤔 We maybe on to something here.🍻😂

[@nicholasdigaetano]

I hope in 2041 the run a 100th anniversary commercial during the super bowl

[@riverscuomo7140]

*long, awkward silence* America runs on Bulova time. *even longer, more awkward silence*

[@medianetwork1987]

A Legend Of Commercials Was Born...

[@mikeygoodboi]

I could heated some pizza while I was waiting for that commercial to end!

[@truthseeker9261]

I agree, but not "everyone" stopped buyin' Video games back then....I was there during that whole era, and there were decent consoles out there in the years in between the classic Atari 2600 and the NES, they just weren't huge sellers, but they sold anyway...then when the NES came out, that gave it the shot in the ass the industry needed that resurrected the video game industry big time.

[@SahilRamola]

but google says the first official paid television advertisement came out in the United States on July 1, 1941, over New York station WNBT (subsequently WNBC) before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.

[@fromthesidelines]

"It's 8 P.M. B-U-L-O-V-A....BULOVA WATCH TIME. 'America runs on Bulova Time'."

[@fromthesidelines]

These days, several New York TV stations are airing time AND temperature "checks", sustained by several advertisers {i.e. "Time and temperature, from TD Bank..."}.

[@ZenomanKnows052706]

So were programs 30 minutes or something with a immediate transition to the next? Or was there something that filled time that ads do today

[@playerpage]

The ads were done live whenever the show cutaway. Watch the I Love Lucy show, "Vitameatavegamin" to see how it worked. And to laugh your face off.

[@ferociousgumby]

Has obviously been re-dubbed.

[@BrandonEastman]

Anyone else here from 'Traffic Secrets'? 😁

[@twistercuber]

while in the middle of the night there are 30 minute commercials not 9 second

[@rickyworley6134]

Ahh commercials the beginning of meaningless interruptions of your favorite shows

[@Chicken_Wing91]

“It’s innovative so people can buy our products!!” Me: “what the hell where’s the damn show!? i already have a timex anyway!”

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I bet. Basically it's a time check rather than a real commercial, though one that is sponsored obviously. The use of clocks though in TV broadcasting became more common in Europe though Australian commercial networks use to use clocks with advertising in-place.

[@fromthesidelines]

This aired on one of the New York stations- either WCBW {WCBS} or WNBT {WNBC}- the first day they were licensed to broadcast TV signals on July 1, 1941. I believe the announcer would have actually stated (as the Bulova "time checks" were done on radio), "It's 8pm: B-U-L-O-V-A...'Bulova Watch Time'. America runs on Bulova." This, of course, IS a recreation, as no film or kinescope {that wouldn't be perfected until late 1947} exists of the original...

[@SilasTheHero]

the beginning of the end

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

Omega and Bulova were the only two watchmakers approved by NASA. I believe

[@user-ve8xq1cf5o]

"The first commercial ever aired was a clock that shows what time it is". Okay I am going to write it down.

[@stormy4418]

BAHHAHAHAHAH WHY DID THIS MAKE ME LAUGH

[@Zombllkat]

Me: *searching up oldest commercial ever*

[@shamoy1993]

2021 I have never heard anybody say that company

[@sachiperez]

ahh, the good old days!

[@jeai]

Okay thank you for letting me know I will be putting this information to good use

[@Scambush]

Who actually saw this when it actually aired? Was there even TV broadcasting in 1941?

[@Codmaster4488]

well ya since the late 20s

[@Lampshade51]

codmaster4488 There were roughly a couple of thousand TV sets in New York City at the time of the first commercial, July 1, 1941, RCA (and others) having started selling them in New York in 1939: www.tvhistory.tv/1939-RCA-Brochure-1.JPG They were expensive, and mostly in bars and hotel lobbies, although a few folks with money had one.

[@TMacizNumba1]

do you think a company would make a commerical on TV if there were no TVs broadcasting

[@caramelpro6949]

Because tv wasn't even popular back then

[@zx50]

Well that was short and simple. Nowadays there's all sorts of fancy animations and special effects in them.

[@redeye_]

japan had a clock commericial as their first too. i see a pattern.

[@Jerricoking]

That was the most randomest thing

[@anthonycerulli5524]

Nothing beats the old Wilkins coffee from the 50s.

[@greatapebroly]

This was better than the Celtics - nets series

[@FinnishArmy]

America runs on Duncan! COPY RIGHT! Lol jk

[@ArtimusDragon]

FinnishArmy ha! you may be right. but I'm sure back then their were no licenses on catch phrases.

[@chrispettipiece4446]

The world would be a better place without adds

[@Hewhowalksbehindtherows]

I had a Bulova time watching this

[@fire_haven_wubbox]

No way that voice was clear

[@Yasuonline]

WebTeknodan gelen tayfa

[@cacomeat7385]

logo, slogan, profit.

[@DJdude250]

And so began the darkest era of human existence

[@tobiashop]

First time I've ever enjoyed tv advertisement...

[@RConn55]

DUNKIN DONUTS STOLE THIS THE AUDACITY

[@devichanderpal4532]

"America runs on dunkin"