Product Placement: UPDATE

After my previous blog entry about 'Product Placement in the UK', there have been some dramatic changes! Today I heard on the news that the Government has lifted the ban on product placement, thus changing the future of British TV forever. I wonder why the government made this major U-turn in their views of product placement, as my last blog entry on this subject discussed, they previously seemed really against the idea. Perhaps it's the £100 million a year that this move will be worth to commercial channels- an economic boost they could all do with in the current situation.

There are some exceptions however. The BBC will still be prevented from using product placement, but do still benefit from the change as it will reduce the pressure on the BBC to share its £3.6 billion income from the license fee. Another exception will also be children's TV.

I think if done well, this will certainly have a positive impact for both advertisers and broadcasters, not only because of the large amounts of money it will bring in, but also because of the self-scheduling method of watching TV that is becoming more and more literal. Many digital packages such as Sky+ allow viewers to fast-forward commercial ad breaks, making them less successful for advertisers, and therefore making less money for broadcasters too. Product placement could therefore open doors for advertisers and broadcasters where others are being closed- there couldn't be a better time for it.