Product Placement Freebies?
from the will-it-stay-that-way? dept
Almost exactly four years ago, we had a post about the rapid rise in product placement on various TV shows. While that post focused on paid product placement, it did note that TiVo had been getting a lot of "free" product placement on various TV shows, just because it had become something of a cultural phenomenon. Lately, it appears that Apple is often the beneficiary of such unpaid product placement -- which is somewhat amusing, since Apple was one of the more aggressive companies doing product placement deals in movies during the 1990s. Of course, with paid product placement becoming more common (thanks, in part, to TiVo), some may wonder if such "freebies" will remain -- or if just about any product placement will be for sale. The fact that we're hearing these types of stories, though, suggests that there will likely always be room for TV shows to mention cultural phenomenons without needing to get paid for it.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
The Loop
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Getting more noticable now
There is a scene where the FBI brother speaks to his father, who is sitting in a chair reading a book. I saw this episode when it originally aired and this time very prominently placed on the arm of the chair was a cup of Dannon Activa yogurt. That struck me as odd. First off, it was so prominent that I know I would have seen this before but I didn't remember it (the show isn't that old). Second, the light from the lamp behind him and the shadows cast by the father didn't interact and shade well with the cup of yogurt and its shadows. Thirdly, I had never heard of Donnon Activa until a few days ago, and I thought that the episode I was watching would've been finished before the product was release.
Sure enough, Dannon Activa was the first commercial at the very next break.
Sucks to be an actor (relatively speaking, of course). You are a spokesperson for products that haven't even been released yet, and you don't get paid for it. Do they?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
What About Brian
[ link to this | view in thread ]
More product placement = less comercials = more people watching = more tv that can be shown
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Hahahaha. That's a good one!
Seriously, I really doubt there's anything that will happen to cable that will result in a reduction of commericals. As long as people keep watching (and almost everyone does), they'll keep trying your patience.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
YouTube product placement
[ link to this | view in thread ]