In broadcasting, a commercial bumper, ident bumper or break bumper (often shortened to bump) is a brief (usually two to fifteen seconds) transition announcement, placed between a pause in the program and its commercial break (and also the other way around). The host, the program announcer, or a continuity announcer will state the title (if any) of the presentation, the name of the program, and the broadcast or cable network, though not necessarily in that order. Bumper music, often a recurring signature or theme music segment, is nearly always featured. Bumpers can vary from simple text to short films.
Most network television shows in the U.S. no longer use commercial bumpers, but they are a common feature of radio. In radio, they are often used during sports broadcasts to ease the transition from play by play to commercial break, and to return to live action, many times using very obscure musical selections of the board operator's choosing. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, most children's programming bumpers would include the phrase "We'll be [right] back after these messages," except for the bump before the final commercial break, which would usually say, "And now, these messages." They are still utilized on network Saturday morning children's programming.
Nickelodeon was widely known for using bumpers after shows would go to a commercial break. Nickelodeon stopped using bumpers in 2001. As of 2007, Nickelodeon is using small "we will be right back" bumpers.
Soap operas in the US have used commercial bumpers for most of their existence. All but one of the current soaps use a bumper in some form. The bumper is usually placed near the halfway point of the hour-long programs, anywhere from 25 minutes to 35 minutes into the show. The bumpers for CBS and ABC soaps feature stylized headshots of the characters; ABC also uses a cast member voiceover, announcing that the program "will be back in a moment, here on ABC."
Late Night With Conan O'Brien today is known for its quirky and amusing commercial bumpers. The show adapted the bumpers from the days when David Letterman was host of Late Night, which were in turn inspired by the colorful bumpers that were a trademark of Johnny Carson's tenure on The Tonight Show.
In the United Kingdom, a break-bumper is a brief appearance of a logo before, after or in-between commercial breaks. The logo is almost always that of the television channel that you are watching and/or of the program title. Since the introduction of program sponsorship in the UK it has become common practice for channels to use brief sponsor's promotions in place of bumpers.
Break-bumpers can either be animated or static, and rarely appear for more than two seconds. They are sometimes branded to advertise a special programme or event that will be broadcast on that channel. Examples of this are sports matches, the BRIT Awards and Big Brother.
