By Claire Ayles
This week’s announcement to allow product placement in British TV shows is a much needed shot in the arm for beleaguered commercial broadcasters.
But behind the jubilation, there’s been a bit of a turf war about who’s in the better position to facilitate product placement, with the ad industry squaring up against PR agencies for the right to take the bigger slice of pie.
Both industries obviously have strong credentials. Ad execs are used to buying opportunities that are proven to reach the right people, while PRs are expert at making products relevant and desirable. Both these elements will play a crucial part.
But how much money is actually up for grabs here? While some experts value the market quite highly, Cazenove rightly points out that us Brits don’t always like the hard sell, and therefore predicts the market will be worth a meagre £70m, with just £30m going to ITV. While this amount of money certainly isn’t to be sniffed at, it’ll only boost ITV’s ad coffers by 2%.
So it looks like the two industries might just be fighting for scraps. However, with the UK ad market shrinking at 14% a year, there’s no doubt which is hungrier.
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