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Lifting restrictions on product placement will boost Europe’s TV industry
THE endeavour is worthy of Soviet-era censors. In Paris, 60 full-time officials of France’s audiovisual authority, the CSA, scrutinise more than 50,000 hours of television programming a year to detect, among other things, product-placement advertising, which is illegal in France. Broadcasters that insert products into programmes in exchange for money from manufacturers face hefty fines. Transgressions are rare: five years ago the CSA fined a broadcaster €150,000 ($141,000) for promoting Club Med holiday resorts in “Loft Story”, a reality show.
Strict limits on television product-placement are the norm across the European Union. In 2006 Europe’s broadcasters earned just $31m from product placement, according to PQ Media, a research firm. In contrast, American broadcasters raked in $1.5 billion. And American television shows, product placements and all, are legal in Europe. The extra advertising cash has given America’s television industry a huge competitive edge.
At a Beverly Hills conference this week, a top Deutsch executive offered up what could serve as a new litmus test for how well a product placement is executed. “Don’t let them feel the money changing hands,” Adweek reported him saying.
In other words, marketers should find a way to weave a product into a show delicately enough that a viewer doesn’t feel like the commercials have just extended from the break into the action.
By that standard, Wrigley’s integration in a recent episode of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” had to be considered a flop. Savvy viewers could just about hear the proverbial “Cha-ching.” Read the rest of this entry »
With a whopping Q-Ratio of 5.8860 this week’s #1 Featured Product Placement is Ford Mustang which appeared prominently on NBC’s “Deal or No Deal…”
Sharon Osbourne, Elizabeth Edwards and Alec Baldwin offer encouragement to a contestant and breast-cancer survivor from Indianapolis. Viewers have a chance to win a limited-edition Ford Mustang.
(AT&T) ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” Q-Ratio: 4.8339
With Mr. Las Vegas out of the competition, the remaining nine couples dance to either the Paso Doble or the Viennese Waltz.
WGA negotiations have unraveled over the DVD issue — seriously ratcheting up the chances of a strike.Talks hit the wall early Wednesday evening as companies demanded that the Writers Guild of America drop its demand to increase homevid residuals. Guild negotiators responded by saying they weren’t prepared to continue and gave no indication when or if they’d return.
With the guild contract expiring at 12:01 a.m. today, WGA leaders can order their 12,000 members to strike at any time — possibly as early as tonight’s membership meeting at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
In an ominous sign, WGA strike captains have been told to instruct guild members to take their personal items home from offices at the end of work today.
The negotiating session ended as many others have, with both sides issuing statements blaming each other for being stubborn and unprofessional.
IT SEEMS LIKE ANYTIME I have a conversation with anyone who knows search and its effectiveness, we always come back to the same question: “Why don’t more ad agencies and brand advertisers get search?”Just this week, I was having this conversation. Twice, in fact. One of my pet peeves is an arbitrary allocation of budget to search, with no regard for the objectives of a cross-channel campaign. “We’ll take this pile and give it to television. We’ll take this slightly smaller pile and give it to print. Here’s a small pile for online, and, oh, make sure you take a little bit of that and set it aside for search, because everyone’s telling us we should be doing search.” I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. At least there’s now a little bit left over for search, which is a vast improvement from where we were just a few years ago.
(Seventeen Magazine) CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” Q-Ratio: 0.9633
Benny Ninja takes the models for a lesson on high fashion posing on high grounds as the models are required to pose in the air while jumping off a trampoline and later while being lifted by an ice skater for their challenge. When the winner of the task is announced, however, some of the other competitors become jealous. Finally, the top models must work the camera in a fierce photo shoot that requires them to pose as gargoyles on the top of a building.
(Wrigley’s Extra) NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” Q-Ratio: 0.7550
All three teams assemble at the beach for a special challenge that will test their perseverance, with the winning team receiving something special from home. Meanwhile, Jillian gives one of her team members a makeover.
