At MTV, Advertising and Content Continue to Merge

(MoneyWatch)  At its upfronts today, MTV announced a new plan to soldier forward on "podbusting" -- essentially creating branded mini-movies that are inserted into commercial breaks. The idea is that if the ad is compelling enough, increasingly DVR-enabled users won't fast forward through, and instead watch the proceedings. From the NYT:

"We're looking to redefine the commercial experience," said John Shea, who runs the integrated marketing division for MTV and VH1.

Dario Spina, who handles the same job for MTV's entertainment channels like Comedy Central and Spike, said of countering the digital video recorder, "That's the idea here; we want to blur the lines between the commercial breaks and the entertainment content."

The idea is being met with skepticism within the ad blog world, and outright derision outside of it. Hamilton Nolan over at Gawker gave the idea a hellacious beatdown, stating flatly:

More entertaining and engaging ads are the work of the devil... This whole "great ads that you want to watch just cause they're so great" is a huge backlash waiting to happen. It was also the business model of Firebrand.com, which went out of business despite a preponderance of nakedness.

Spawn of Satan or not, these type of ads are gaining traction. TBA Global announced today they'll be spinning off a digital entertainment division solely dedicated to creating branded entertainment online, called TBA DEEP (Digital Entertainment Engagement Programming.) They've had some success with "Kim and Seana" a web series about two American Apparel-esque ladies who drive around in a Ford equipped with Sync technlogy, meeting up with indie musicians. The duo have nearly 3,400 MySpace friends.