Transcript What is Product Placement?

Product Placement
Report of Panel 2
Jonathan Davis
UK Film Council
The Responsibilities of Content Providers And Users,
Prague 19 - 20 March 2009
What is Product Placement?
• Product Placement is an audiovisual commercial
communication (Av Com Com):
– Designed to promote the goods, services or
image of a natural or legal entity pursuing an
economic activity;
– Accompanying or being included in a
programme;
– In return for payment or for similar consideration
or for self-promotional purposes.
And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen ...
Tea
Mattoni
Marijuana
From where does the interest
in product placement come?
• Economic crisis - spot advertising revenues
declining
• Technological change - a way to stop viewers
skipping advertisements
• “The Death of a Business Model” - replacing
lost investment in content production or
helping the producer to save money
What is Product Placement
worth?
• No figures for European market
• According to ACT, in 2008, $7 billion globally,
two thirds in the US
• According to ACT, product placement
revenues in the US will grow 18% in 2009
while spot advertising revenues fall
• In the US, hundreds of thousands of product
placements on television
• Programmes on Discovery entirely funded by
product placement
Is the Czech Republic the European
capital of product placement?
• Around 20 Czech films produced each
year
• total production cost around €30 million
• Box office around €15 million
• Funding from broadcasters investment
via national fund
• Product placement revenue around
20% of production budgets.
Regulating Product Placement
• Before AVMS Directive
– Separation of advertising and editorial
– Ban on subliminal and surreptitious
advertising
• With AVMS
– Member states encouraged (by EC, by
commercial broadcasters) to transpose
exactly what is in the Directive
Transposition : three options
• Option 1: No specific national measures
(product placement implicitly allowed)
• Option 2: Limited prohibition
• Option 3: Product placement explicitly
allowed possibly under stricter rules
Member states must ensure that any restrictions
on product placement are proportional.
Problems for regulators
• How do regulators know when product
placement is taking place?
• How should product placement be identified?
• Should it also be identified by a list of
advertisers/products?
• How long should the screen display the signal
or/and the list of advertisers/products?
• Definition of undue prominence?
• Definition of significant value?
Areas to be addressed
• Product placement in videogames,
music videos etc.
• Product placement in programmes
created for social network sites (soap
operas on Beebo)
• People placement
• Moral rights
Virtual product placement
Conclusions
• Product placement is a good reason for
media literacy
• The best defence against bad effects of
product placement is a media literate
society
• Evidence - for example, of the economic
benefits, the effectiveness or the impact
on editorial/artsistic integrity of product
placement - needs to be built up.