Product Placement Comes Closer Into Focus
Nielsen has released figures on the top brands and top TV programs involved with product placement. This is an area that could represent lots of opportunity when the interactivity of the Web reaches the television (read: IPTV).
We’ve already seen some models developed and speculated, but it has yet to really take off. In broadcast television, as shown in Nielsen’s figures, it’s mostly brand advertising so far. But with IPTV, there are implications for more interactivity that plays off products used in video programming.
In other words, we could see local directional advertising tied to products used in certain programs (think cooking, home improvement, fashion, etc.). It could take a while before IPTV providers work this into their service packages and hardware will be an issue (at the onset IPTV won’t look much different from cable). But the underlying architecture is there to build these types of ad delivery models.
We’ll also have IPTV providers with directory assets (AT&T), where the synergies between the two will only take a matter of time to be realized. Some of these integrations were hinted at by former Yellowpages.com president Charles Stubbs, and first signs can be seen in the Yellowpages.com channel on AT&T’s U-verse IPTV package.
In the meantime, the interactivity brought by IPTV will apply more to national brands. This could involve interactive options to find out more about products, or in some cases order them online. Like many other media, including the Web, the massive local opportunity will come later.
