What sad news!

Television commercials are shrinking along with attention spans and advertising budgets, according to an Associated Press report published last week.

The 15-second ad is increasingly common, gradually replacing the 30-second spot just as it supplanted the full-minute pitch decades ago.

For viewers,  it means more rapid-fire commercials.

For advertisers, shorter commercials are a way to save money, and research shows they hold more viewers’ attention than the longer format.

“It used to be that the most valuable thing on the planet was time, and now the most valuable thing on the planet is attention attention,” John Greening, associate professor at Northwestern University’s journalism school and a former executive vice president at ad agency DDB Chicago, told the AP.

So, instead of seeing a lengthier plot line, viewers are treated to the sight of, say, the popular “Old Spice man” riding backward on a horse through various scenes for just 15 seconds.

The number of 15-second TV commercials has jumped more than 70 percent in five years, to nearly 5.5 million last year, Nielson reported.

The shorter ads comprised 14 percent of all national ads on the air last year, up from 29 percent in 2005.

Commercial-skipping digital video recorders and distractions, such as laptops and phones, have shortened attention spans, Deborah Mitchell, executive director of the Center for Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin, reported.