Will UK audiences tune into product placement?

From February 2011, marketers have been allowed to pay for having their products or brands prominently featured within certain types of UK TV programmes. Programmes that include placements must be accompanied by a P shown on screen for three seconds at the start and end.

During the first year that placements were allowed, some industry experts watched for rapid growth in this marketing activity--yet fewer than 20 deals were noted by Ofcom, which regulates placement in the UK. During the second year, some high-profile deals like the Samsung placements on X Factor brought this technique more attention and some negative feedback as well.

Looking ahead, KPMG still expects rapid growth in product placement revenues. MediaVest's Rupert Britton also sees growth in the coming years. On the other hand, David Charlesworth of MirriAd says few marketers have plans for paid product placement right now.

Sainsbury's has a fresh take on this technique, cooking up live TV content that combines multiple placements within the traditional cooking programme format.  

What's Cooking from the Sainsbury's Kitchen features guest cooks and includes views of store-branded food and appliance products that relate to the menus (with recipes available for downloading from Channel 4 and from the Sainsbury's 'Live well for less' site). For the mobile minded, Sainsbury's has a free app, too, offering access to recipes, discounts and more.

Will product placement be more visible in the next year or two? Will it generate sales for the featured products and brands?

PS: This is my 400th blog entry!