In American television, a pod is ? linear sequence ?f commercials - it's a casing that holds ? row of tiny ads, like peas.
Is that cute ?r w?at? Okay, m?ybe not.
The numbe? ?f pods pe? s?ow var? dramatically, but on normal commercial television the?? ?re us?ally thr?e per half-??ur and f??? p?r hou?. Unscripted sh?ws (most notably sporting events ?r sho?s that cover s?me) a?e subject to the sporadic movements of balls ?n fields ?nd the commercial pods t?erefore ?ary in length.
Broadcast television t?nds t? have sli?htly ?onger pods th?n cable television, t?ough the t?o a?e rapidly equalizing.
The ?nteresting thing is, if y?u watch enough TV you'll notice t??t the pods in identical programs shift depending ?n ?hen th? shows air - if you watch a premiering episode ?f The Simpsons on S?nday night t?ere's almost alwa?s a
pod ?mmediately f?llowing t?e title sequence, but a ?ear later in reruns during th? w?ek, t?e sam? episode ?ill m?ve t?at pod closer to the middle.
??e reasoning for t?i? essentially ?orks th?? way: People who tune in t? se? t?at Simpsons premiere ?r? mo?e likely to watch ?t no matter what; it's therefo?e safer t? hit th? viewers with more ads up f?ont b?c??s? there's only a minimal chance that t?ey'll ?et bored and flip t?e channel.
At 11:30PM on a ?uesday night, ?owever, ?t's ?n enti?ely ?ifferent ball game - people ??t flighty late at night, and t?e networks know they'll hold m?r? viewers b? hitting th?m with th? s?ow proper ?s s??n a? ?ossible. There're ot?e? factors, but th?t's the gist of it.
W?thin the t?ade, segments ?f a show a?e numbered ?nd th? commercial pods ??e assigned numbers too, whi?e the individual commercials are lettered - th? second commercial ?n t?e third pod of some ?ho? ?r anothe? w?uld theref?re be assigned the designation 3?.