In risky move, newscasts adopt product placements15 March, 2006 - Yahoo News
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - While just about every television genre has jumped on the lucrative product-placement bandwagon, news programs generally have been considered off-limits to preserve editorial integrity.
But with TV stations facing increased competition and pressure on advertising revenue, the barriers that shielded news programing from such deals are falling. Product placement, media and branded entertainment agencies say they are increasingly being pitched opportunities from local stations to integrate their clients‘ products into news programing in exchange for buying commercial time or paying integration fees.
"There are more local news stations that are incorporating brands into news in innovative, cutting-edge ways," said Aaron Gordon, president of entertainment marketing firm Set Resources Inc. "The line, which has always been black and white in terms of what‘s news and what‘s commercials, is now being blurred."
"We‘re all trying to find ways of integrating commercial messages into content that satisfy the audience and advertisers without hurting our product," KRON president and general manager Mark Antonitis said. "When you‘re an independent, you‘ve got to do what you can to survive. You bank on your credibility as a news organization every day, but you also have to be successful as a business. You have to be creative for your advertisers without compromising the credibility of your news organization."
"We bring on people all the time to talk about books, products and interesting new ideas anyway," Antonitis said ... "So if we can have the added benefit of a new revenue source and give something to our viewers that they wouldn‘t be able to get otherwise and advertisers get their products advertised, it‘s a win-win-win."
But with TV stations facing increased competition and pressure on advertising revenue, the barriers that shielded news programing from such deals are falling. Product placement, media and branded entertainment agencies say they are increasingly being pitched opportunities from local stations to integrate their clients‘ products into news programing in exchange for buying commercial time or paying integration fees.
"There are more local news stations that are incorporating brands into news in innovative, cutting-edge ways," said Aaron Gordon, president of entertainment marketing firm Set Resources Inc. "The line, which has always been black and white in terms of what‘s news and what‘s commercials, is now being blurred."
"We‘re all trying to find ways of integrating commercial messages into content that satisfy the audience and advertisers without hurting our product," KRON president and general manager Mark Antonitis said. "When you‘re an independent, you‘ve got to do what you can to survive. You bank on your credibility as a news organization every day, but you also have to be successful as a business. You have to be creative for your advertisers without compromising the credibility of your news organization."
"We bring on people all the time to talk about books, products and interesting new ideas anyway," Antonitis said ... "So if we can have the added benefit of a new revenue source and give something to our viewers that they wouldn‘t be able to get otherwise and advertisers get their products advertised, it‘s a win-win-win."
posted by Carioca at 11:08 AM
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