Audioblogger Down, Club MediaNote Staggers On...

AudioBlogger isn't working today. So this post will be text only.

Today I discussed a recent Reuters article entitled Digital Product Placement Alters TV Landscape. CBS has begun to strip virtual product placements into the scenes of some of its shows. The first was a digital box of crackers placed onto a coffee table.

The article went on to mention that this sort of product placement may become increasingly common as Tivo and similar devices enable more and more people to escape traditional TV ads. In not too many years it might be as routine to order up a virtual product placement as it is to place TV ads today. The article also indicated that shows may have additional product placements stripped into them when they go into syndication. (Gee, I don't remember Cheetos on the bridge of the Enterprise.)

The MC101s were concerned that this type of advertising might go too far (one said that TV characters should not begin to look like NASCAR drivers) but they were less repulsed than I thought they might be. Generally, they felt this type of advertising was less objectionable than 30-second spots. However, they warned that virtual product placement could get obnoxious in a hurry if it begins to interfere with the story line.

We discussed the possibility that TV shows might be shot a little differently with this type of advertising in mind. We might see more characters walking past blank walls, more delivery trucks and vans parked in the street, more scenes at the breakfast table.

One student noted that TV shows set in the past--traditional Westerns, for example--may be hurt by this trend. It's pretty unlikely that Marshall Dillon is going to whip out his cell phone, even if it is now technologically possible.

***OFF TOPIC BUT COOL: Just got a call from our contact at the Museum of Television & Radio. There are still tickets available to the Chris Rock event on Thursday. Call the RSVP number on the flyer handed out in class. Should be a great evening for the MC101s.***

Next post will be Wednesday. Hopefully Audioblogger will be back up by then.