New Technology Could Bring Product Placement to Old TV Shows

Prior to the 28th February 2011, product placement on UK TV was prohibited and strict guidelines were imposed to stop companies from advertising their goods. Nowadays, it’s possible to insert products into the majority of TV shows and movies providing those involved comply with Ofcom’s regulations. In the modern age, TV is becoming less relevant due to the rise of online media platforms like Netflix and companies are concerned about Adblock diminishing their revenue streams. A recent technological invention has been designed to digitally impose adverts into older TV shows and has been described as “product placement on steroids”.

This technological development will be trialled for Bushmills whisky on Vice’s Viceland TV channel but it could also be introduced into older programmes. The Mirriad Advertising Ltd and media agency Havas Media Group worked together to create this and claim it will attract £17 million in spending throughout the next 12 months. Shane Ankeney, president of Arena Media US, part of Havas proudly proclaimed:

“Forget intrusion, this is about creating content that becomes something of genuine interest so it’s led by content, not the product,”

“It’s a kind of product placement but on steroids.”

Apparently, it’s even possible to change brands depending on the audience. Dominique Delport, global managing director of Havas Media Group added:

“What’s great is to pioneer what could become a new way of scaling product placements within content,”

“And you get back some ad dollars that could have been lost to ad blocking techniques.”

“The potential going forward is to use this for other, perhaps older programmes as well, for instance episodes of Friends where ad products can be inserted pixel by pixel into the content beautifully creating new possibilities for brands.”

Honestly, I do think it’s is a terrible idea especially if modern products end up being in the background of iconic TV shows. It would be absurd to see an iPhone or similar device when an original programme is set in a time when mobile phones didn’t exist.

Thank you The Guardian for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of gregoryscheckler.com