In news broadcasts, for example. a newscaster may address viewers in a fashion such as: "The state legislature gets ready for a showdown on taxes. Details when we return." The audience is being teased with information, and the purpose is to keep a viewer tuned to the station during a commercial. Similarly, teasers can also be used to keep a viewer tuned to a newscast. An anchor may begin a newscast with a tease for an upcoming story. like the state legislature story above, then shift the focus: "But first, we bring you our top story ... "

     According to David Keith Cohler, there are two types of news teasers. The first is best described as a headline. which contains the essential information about a story. In sports the headline may be: "Angels shut-out Pirates. Highlights when we return." The second type of teaser is more vague and leaves the reader wondering what exactly the news is about to report, as in the "showdown on taxes" example mentioned above.

     For Richard D. Yoakam and Charles F. Cremer, there is little difference between "teasers" and "bumpers," since both are designed to promote upcoming stories. Thus, a simple, "We'll return in a moment" would qualify as a teaser as well as a bumper. So would a short video clip of a dramatic moment or a humorous exchange of words taken from the segment coming up after some commercials. Thus, anything designed to get the attention of viewers and hold their attention through some span of time may be referred to as a teaser.

     This is clearly the case in other types of programming.  Daytime  talk  shows,  for example,  often open with  provocative summaries of their content, then cut to commercials, The teaser is designed to titillate the audience and entice it into returning.  Teasers for dramatic programming are similar. Short clips from the upcoming program can be used to highlight the most powerful or humorous moments. Bits of tense dialogue, jokes, or tender moments can all be excerpted for use as an immediate promotion of the program at hand.

     A related programming strategy uses the precom­mercial sequence to remind the audience of past events at the same time it pulls them into the current program. These summaries are often introduced with a voice-over announcement: for example, "Previously on Hill Street Blues." In many cases (Dallas is a good example), the summary-teaser also serves as a prologue, indicating which stories, from the ever-growing collection of interrelated narratives, will be explored in the upcoming episode.

     In the age of the remote-control device, a number of programs have abandoned teasers, plunging directly into the dramatic action of the narrative, sometimes without even an  intervening commercial between the end of one program and the start of the next.  However, in some cases it is still a prologue or a teaser, selected from the most powerful moments of previous and new material, that is presented to the fickle audience. This strategy, it is hoped, prevents viewers from instantly changing the channel to "surf' between programs.