Forget the irritating 30-second ad slots that break up TV shows -- a new generation of interactive advertisements is on the way.

As the television industry feels the pinch of falling advertising revenues and increased audience fragmentation onto a multitude of screens -- online, mobile phones, video games -- broadcasters and advertisers are seeking alternatives to the old interruptive TV ads.

"The crisis has exacerbated the effects of the multiplication of screens," advertising guru Sir Martin Sorrell told the MIPTV entertainment trade show taking place here this week.

"Free-to-air traditional television will not die. It will still be the most effective way of reaching the largest number of people in the shortest possible time," he said. But, like print, TV will never be the same again, added one of the most influential men in advertising and the CEO of the giant WPP group.

This provided a chance, he said, "to develop content attractive for the new platforms."

And there was much concrete evidence of this trend at this year's MIPTV show.

Advertisers "must stop interrupting what people enjoy and start becoming what they enjoy," said Christophe Lambert, co-founder with well-known film director Luc Besson of France's first so-called "advertainment" production company, Blue Advertainment.

In Greece, for instance, ad agency Ogilvy teamed up with Movie Teller films to produce a 17-minute-long interactive film "Love at first Site", linked to a TV campaign for Greece's leading chocolate brand, Lacta.

The story of a young Greek and an English tourist who fall in love and spend a magical week before she leaves was posted on YouTube as an interactive video. Users made the story progress by clicking on the brand's chocolate wrapper. The video pulled in huge audiences, spawned online blogs and attracted 11,000 fans on Facebook.

South Africa's SABC1 channel for its part is running three-minute episodes about a policeman called Dex Dude, where at the end of each cliff-hanger episode viewers are asked to text messages to choose whether he should choose option A or B.

The aim of the show, titled "Crossroads", and backed by low alcohol beer brand "Castle Lite", is to make the drink the brand of preference for those making the right choices in life.

Mobile phones are also tipped to become an important platform for receiving advertising-related media content.

"Innovations like the iPhone will change attitudes to receive content," Sorrell underlined.

Another such project pitched at MIPTV was "Planet Omo!", a fun-filled online world for the washing-powder firm enabling parents to connect to the website via a mobile phone and download a story children can watch during shopping trips, or upload photos.

Another from soap giant Dove titled "ME+30" features a site where women can see what they will look like in 30 years and share the image on social networking sites.

Ad-funding is already key on hugely popular social networks such as Bebo and a number of Web TV services including Hulu, Joost, and latest newcomer, Zillion TV.

But with innovative advertising ideas just beginning to come on stream, it looks as if the main alternative to the 30-second ad will remain "branded entertainment" -- creating ideas that bring entertainment value to brands via sponsoring events, and using product placement, where well known brands are prominently placed in a film or TV show.

"The Gap Year" challenge, for instance, that premieres worldwide in May this year involves 13 advertisers including Cadbury/Schweppes, Sony (PSP) and even the Royal Air Force.

In the show, six participants selected through an interactive auditioning process, embark on a six-month trip around the world during which each keeps a daily blog.

Brands are part of the video content and tasks and challenges the contestants face along their journey, with users on the popular Bebo website following the trip and also setting challenges for the contestants.