You See Pepsi, I See Coke: New Tricks for Product Placement

The streaming services have data on viewers’ spending habits and brand preferences, and they’re looking into new ways to use it.

First came product placement. In exchange for a payment, whether in cash, supplies or services, a TV show or a film would prominently display a brand-name product.

Then there was virtual product placement. Products or logos would be inserted into a show during editing, thanks to computer-generated imagery.

Now, with the rise of Netflix and other streaming platforms, the practice of working brands into shows and films is likely to get more sophisticated. In the near future, according to marketing executives who have had discussions with streaming companies, the products that appear onscreen may depend on who is watching.

In other words, a viewer known to be a whiskey drinker could see a billboard for a liquor brand in the background of a scene, while a teetotaller watching the same scene might see a billboard for a fizzy water company.

Streaming services could also drop in brand-name products based on when a show is being watched. Someone who watches a streaming show in the morning could see a carton of orange juice within a character’s reach, while a different viewer watching the same thing in the afternoon could see a can of soda.

It could start within a year, said Stephan Beringer, the chief executive of Mirriad, a virtual product placement company that has worked brands including Pepsi, Geico and Sherwin-Williams into ABC’s “Modern Family,” CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother” and the Univision program “El Dragón.”

Streaming services are more likely than traditional TV companies to pull off this specially targeted version of product placement because they have direct access to far more information on their customers. With every click of the remote, viewers tell the services something about themselves, information that can be used to determine which products might appeal to them.

This supercharged version of digital product placement is being developed at a time when the marketing business — which bet big on TV commercials for decades — needs new tricks to grab the attention of ad-hating and cord-cutters.

Mr. Beringer, the head of Mirriad, said the current digital product placement technology has been successful enough to suggest that a bespoke version is a logical next step.

Question 1. Indicate whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE and write down which part of the text justifies your answer

• 1.    Product placement involves showing brand-name products on a TV programme or film without charge.
• 2.  The rise of streaming platforms may affect the practice of working brands on TV and the cinema.
• 3.    Pretty soon, the products we see onscreen will be different for different types of viewers.
• 4.    TV companies have better access to information about their viewers than streaming services.

Question 3: Find words or phrases in the text that mean the same as the following.

• a)    Show. Make viewable. (paragraph 2)
• b)    Person who does not drink alcohol. (paragraph 5)
• c)    Metal container (paragraph 6)
• d)    Succeed in doing (paragraph 8)
• e)    Appeal (paragraph 9)

 

KEY

Question 1:

1.    False. In exchange for a payment, whether in cash, supplies or services, a TV show or a film would prominently display a brand-name product.

2.    True. with the rise of Netflix and other streaming platforms, the practice of working brands into shows and films is likely to get more sophisticated.

3.    True. In the near future, according to marketing executives who have had discussions with streaming companies, the products that appear onscreen may depend on who is watching.

4.   False. Streaming services are more likely than traditional TV companies to pull off this specially targeted version of product placement because they have direct access to far more information on their customers.

Question 3:

• a)    Display
• b)    Teetotaller
• c)    Can
• d)    Pull off
• e)    Grab the attention