Chevrolet Camaro’s product placement on TLC’s Rides had the top product-placement score on monitored cable networks in June, Nielsen Co. reported last week using a new metric based on brand recognition and positive feeling.
Among the cable-TV programs currently being monitored by Nielsen’s product-placement service, TLC’s Rides had 63% audience recognition and positive feeling score for the Chevrolet Camaro brand.
On the broadcast side, Sears’ placement on ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition had the top product-placement score on broadcast-network television in June, with 58.1% of the show’s audience not only able to recognize the presence of the Sears store brand during the program, but also coming away with a positive feeling for the brand as a result of that exposure.
Place*Views, Nielsen’s enhanced product-placement monitoring application, now provides scores on the effect product placements have on television audiences, by episode and brand.
In terms of cable networks, Place*Views currently monitors A&E Network, MTV, TLC, HGTV and Bravo.
The Place*Views scores may be used in conjunction with audience ratings to estimate not just the size of an audience during a product placement, but also the “quality” of that placement. They can be used to reveal that audience’s level of awareness for the placement, or whether that exposure resulted in positive feelings towards that brand, or yet still, whether it raised purchase interest for it.
Nielsen’s additional product-placement analysis findings for June included:
- ABC’s Fast Cars & Superstars had the top recognition and positive feeling score (35.5%) in the telephone product category with the Alltel brand.
- Chevrolet Camaro was not the only auto product placement to score high during that period: MTV’s Pimp My Ride came in a close second at 58.2%, for Honda.
- Bravo’s Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List had the top score (25%) for the computer category with the Gateway brand.
- NBC’s The Office had the top-scoring product placement in the restaurant category with the Hooters brand at 41.3%.
- Examining scores alongside ratings data can unveil further insights regarding possible tradeoffs between audience size and the “quality” of that placement: For instance, CT Homes Realty on A&E’s Flip This House scored low compared to TLC’s Camaro integration (42.6% versus 63%, which is about one-third lower), but the show delivered a larger audience for the brand (0.6% vs. 0.4%, which is one-third higher).
