Yeah, rolling your own is very rewarding, but often we'd like someone else to slip us a ready-made. Even though it may not be as nifty as the one we made. Or maybe because it is niftier and better made. Trust your inner potato. Seinfeld viewers know what we're talking about.
Television succeeds for a good reason.
You dial it for a mainline fix of unadulturated push. It's great for that universal plunge into the Thing Larger Than Myself. Advertisers, of course. But hey, advertisers are easily hypnotized, too. In the short run, advertisers can be counted on to pile in.