iTVX

 Product Placements Increasing In Both Volume And Pitch

  Brandweek, Monday, March 1, 2010

News Image With viewing down, ad skipping via DVRs on the rise, and clutter as bad as ever, some say the future of brand marketing on the TV screen is the integration of commercials with prominent product placements in shows, T.L. Stanley reports. Brand placements were up 3% in 2009 on broadcast TV and 5% on cable from 2008, according to Nielsen IAG.

Stanley opens with an example from the CBS sitcom "Gary Unmarried" in which characters feast on buckets of KFC grilled chicken, with one wondering, "I wonder if it's five herbs and six spices, or 10 herbs and one amazing spice." The brand was in the spotlight for less than a minute but iTVX, which measures the value of brand integrations in TV shows, says the exposure was worth $514,259. A 30-second ad on the show costs $79,986, in contrast (and KFC bought several).

"These deals are more highly managed than they've ever been before," says Gary Cogland, VP, Business Development at iTVX, which analyzes as many as 70 areas to determine the value of a placement. "Brands don't send out props and hope for the best."

Not everyone is pleased by the development. Both the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild have raised objections to what one SAG official calls an "intrusive process [that] is getting more and more out of hand." And the FCC calls some placements "particularly insidious because viewers often are unaware that someone is trying to influence, persuade, or market to them."