Grading Product Placement
By Steve McClellan -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/14/2003 7:00:00 PM
In the product-placement game, a higher-rated sitcom like Everybody Loves Raymond doesn't necessarily guarantee that viewers are going to remember your product better than if it's placed in a lower-rated comedy like UPN's All of Us. But sitcoms generally appear to spark better recall for products than reality shows do.
| Top 10 in Recall | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In-program integration in sitcoms | |||
| Rank | Brand | Program | Index* |
| *Percentage of viewers who can recall within 24 hours a brand/product they were exposed to, indexed against the mean for all in-program integrations during the period. 100 equals average. Source: IAG |
|||
| 1 | SpongeBob SquarePants | All of Us (UPN, 11/25) | 237 |
| 2 | Oscar Mayer | Yes, Dear (CBS, 11/3) | 237 |
| 3 | Ouija (Hasbro) | Reba (WB, 10/31) | 236 |
| 4 | Scrabble (Hasbro) | Two and a Half Men (CBS, 11/17) | 233 |
| 5 | Barbie (Mattel) | Like Family (WB, 11/7) | 228 |
| 6 | Nintendo | King of Queens (CBS, 11/26) | 210 |
| 7 | Lego | Yes, Dear (CBS, 11/3) | 201 |
| 8 | Krispy Kreme | Eve (UPN, 11/18) | 199 |
| 9 | Evian | Becker (CBS, 11/ 12) | 194 |
| 10 | Mike and Ike (Just Born) | Raymond (CBS, 11/10) | 194 |
| Top 10 in Recall | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In-program integration in reality shows | |||
| Rank | Brand | Program | Index* |
| *Percentage of viewers who can recall within 24 hours a brand/product they were exposed to, indexed against the mean for all in-program integrations during the period. 100 equals average. Source: IAG |
|||
| 1 | Levi's | Extreme Makeover (ABC, 11/3) | 186 |
| 2 | GMC | Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (NBC, 11/25) | 166 |
| 3 | Kay Jewelers | Extreme Makeover (ABC, 11/13) | 156 |
| 4 | Lenox | Trista and Ryan's Wedding (ABC, 11/26) | 150 |
| 5 | Crayola | Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (NBC, 11/26) | 146 |
| 6 | Magic 8 Ball (Mattel) | Average Joe (NBC, 11/3, 8) | 146 |
| 7 | NetZero | Fear Factor (NBC, 11/17) | 143 |
| 8 | Orvis | Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (NBC, 11/25) | 141 |
| 9 | Hugo Boss | Extreme Makeover (ABC, 10/30) | 140 |
| 10 | Ferragamo | Extreme Makeover (ABC, 11/6) | 138 |
These are two early conclusions from IAG, the New York research firm that measures viewer recall of TV commercials and, as of last month, recall of products integrated into the storylines of TV shows. Last week, IAG issued the first set of recall data, for product placements in network shows airing during the November sweeps.
IAG surveyed all sitcoms and reality shows with product placements but released only the top 10 best-recalled products in each category. In addition to measuring recall, the company also quizzed an on-line panel of 100,000 viewers about the "fit" of the product placements: whether the placements seemed forced or awkward or whether they made sense and seemed natural. The "fit" data wasn't released last week but may be at a later date, company officials said.
Among reality shows, products placed in ABC's Extreme Makeover and NBC's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy dominated the top 10 spots during November, according to the IAG data. Between them, they occupied seven of the top 10 places: products in Extreme Makeover four, products in Queer Eye three.
IAG officials say the product-placement service measures the recall of all products whether they are part of paid deals or just stuff that turns up in shows. Between the two, most shows on network TV have product placements, IAG officials say.
The score for each product placement is calculated by taking the percentage of viewers who can recall within 24 hours the brand name of the product in the show. The score is then indexed against the average score for all the product placements during the same time period. A recall index of 100 is "average;" anything above 150 is described as "superior," IAG officials say.
In November, the 10th-ranked product placement in a sitcom (Mike and Ike candy in Everybody Loves Raymond) scored higher (194) than the top-ranked product placement in a reality show (Levi's in Extreme Makeover), which logged a recall index 186.
IAG officials declined to be interviewed on the record. But they confirmed the general trend, cautioning only that it remains to be seen whether the trend holds up over time. They also stressed that the November trend doesn't necessarily mean that, two weeks from now, sitcoms will continue to post higher scores than reality shows.
IAG plans to issue product-placement ratings weekly to subscribers. Beyond that, a summary of the top-ranked products will be available in the Wall Street Journal on a weekly basis while other publications may get access to some sweeps-related data, a spokeswoman for the company said.
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