Sick of hearing about the John Lewis Christmas advert? Here’s something to cheer you up

Thanks to the growth on-demand viewers, television advertising is less relevant than ever before

'Monty the Penguin' featured in the 2014 John Lewis festive advert.

During last Sunday's X-Factor results show we were treated to a 10 second film informing us that the John Lewis Christmas advert will be revealed to the public on Friday morning. The promo, which bore the hashtag #OnTheMoon, has wetted the nation's appetite for what has now become an annual institution. In fact, the John Lewis festive incitement to spend is now so famous that, this year, it will pre-screened for the press ahead of Friday's premiere. Yes, a press screening for an advert.

The superstore’s approach to Christmas advertising is very clever. The annual television spot is one of the only adverts that viewers still care about in this day and age of multiplatform viewing, TV on demand and choice.

Once a mainstay of all commercial channels, adverts are now seen as a hindrance to most viewers, who go out of their way to avoid them. The majority of households now have access, at the least, to some set-top device which allows them to fast forward through the commercial break avoiding advertisers' attempts to reel them in. Those few without access to these devices often report changing the channel or leaving the room in order to avoid advertising altogether.

The majority of people who choose to watch the advert when it first airs on Friday morning will be doing so on YouTube – they are watching it to discuss it on social media or share their own comments under large number of articles that will be written about it.

It may seem crazy that an advert – an advert! – is gaining so much press attention, but the popularity of this one commercial tradition is quite unique. Television advertising has never been less useful or relevant. The latest generation of viewers have so many different ways to consume TV that advertising is falling by the wayside, and product placement during programmes themselves is becoming more popular.

Millions will be discussing the John Lewis ad after it is aired, but that’s because it’s become a cultural phenomenon; it is viewed as a mini-movie rather than a traditional advertisement. Few of those discussing its production or storyboarding online will ultimately be stepping through the doors of John Lewis in the run-up to Christmas. Ultimately, TV advertising wields less power over fewer people than it ever has before.