Nielsen Reports Rise in Product Placement on Network TV

NEW YORK, April 1:
According to The Nielsen Company, the number of product placement occurrences
in prime-time U.S. network TV rose 13 percent in 2007, with a total of 25,950
instances in the top ten programs for product placement, versus 22,553 in 2006.

The number one show in
terms of product placement last year was American Idol with 4,349 occurrences; it also held the top spot
in 2006 with 4,086 brand placement occurrences. In second place is NBC’s The
Biggest Loser (3,285 occurrences),
followed by ABC’s Fast Cars and Superstars. The top five was rounded out by The CW’s America’s Next Top Model and ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Other titles in the top ten include CBS’s Amazing
Race All Stars and The CW’s Beauty
and the Geek.

The top ten featured
brands on prime-time broadcast network television for 2007 accounted for 11,666
occurrences; in comparison, the top ten brands accounted for 10,320 occurrences
in 2006. Coca-Cola, primarily through its association with American Idol, was the top brand in both 2006 and 2007, with
3,174 occurrences in the last year. 24 Hour Fitness Centers (1,931 occurrences)
and Chef Revival Apparel (1,257 occurrences) round out the top three brands on
broadcast television in 2007.

According to Nielsen
Product Placement Service, there was an overall decrease of 9 percent in the
number of product placement occurrences in prime-time cable network programming
for 2007, based on the cable programs tracked on A&E, Bravo, HGTV, MTV and
TLC. The top ten programs featured 163,737 occurrences for 2007, compared with
206,054 occurrences for 2006. American Chopper was the number one cable network show in terms of
the number of product placements, with 52,503 occurrences. Miami Ink on TLC (20,594 occurrences) and Dog the Bounty
Hunter on A&E (19,179
occurrences) held the second and third positions, respectively.

The top ten featured
brands on prime-time cable network television for 2007 accounted for 43,475
occurrences, a decrease from 53,530 in 2006.

Nielsen also reported that
advertising spending for the full year 2007 rose 0.6 percent compared to 2006.
The Internet was the strongest performer, with an 18.9-percent increase on the
year-ago period. National cable TV, however, posted just a 2.2-percent rise,
and Spanish-language TV gained just 1.5 percent. Network TV, meanwhile, fell
1.5 percent.

—By Mansha Daswani