Dive Brief:
- According to Nielsen, product placement is down 45% this fall TV season.
- The drop is part of an ongoing trend that saw last year’s broadcast season down 3% from the previous year.
- Even though product placement ads are down, Nielsen’s Trust in Advertising study found TV ads overall are more trusted than online video ads.
Dive Insight:
If you think you aren’t seeing as much product placement on broadcast TV, you’d be correct.
So far this fall season Nielsen reports product placement ads are down 45%, a number fitting a larger trend that saw product placement down all of last season 3% from the previous year and down 20% from the season before that (2012-2013).
One possible reason for the drop is marketers have more advertising options and channels available to them than ever before, including a range of digital ad types as well as mobile advertising. But, according to the Nielsen Trust in Advertising study, TV remains the most trusted medium for ads with 63% of respondents reporting trusting TV ads completely or somewhat compared to 48% for online video ads. The highest level of trust across all age groups was “recommendations from people I know.”
Even if product placement has somewhat fallen out of favor, the tactic is effective. Nielsen research found consumers 18-49 had 18% higher brand recall for product placement ads over standard commercials.