The Stage

Fincham claims product placement in British TV shows is inevitable

Published Tuesday 1 September 2009 at 15:35 by Matthew Hemley

ITV director of television Peter Fincham has fuelled the debate about product placement in British television programmes, claiming it is only a matter of time before it becomes a reality in the UK.

Fincham’s comments come despite a decision earlier this year by the UK government to continue a ban of product placement, even though it had the opportunity to introduce it under EU legislation.

At the time, writers spoke out about allowing brands to be used in shows as a way of making money, claiming it would damage the “integrity of British-scripted comedy and drama”.

However, Fincham, speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, compared product placement to “compulsory seatbelts” in that it “will happen one day” and added: “As soon as it does happen we will think why did we spend so much time wondering whether we should do it or not.”

He said the critics of product placement had “crudely characterised” it and added: “You need, in my opinion, a very strong reason to say, ‘Here’s a potential source of revenue which we deny the [commercial] broadcasters’.”

Fincham said viewers were already used to seeing product placement, in both US programming and in films such as James Bond, which he said used “direct and unabashed production placement”.

He claimed viewers were comfortable with product placement, but acknowledged introducing it in the UK would have to be done carefully, and added: “If we do it crudely then viewers will react accordingly and we will suffer accordingly.”

He said to make the case for placement, ITV would need to convince opponents of it that it will use “discretion” and do it in a way that “does not undermine the integrity” of its programmes or spoil viewers’ enjoyment.

At the festival, Gerhard Zeiler, the chief executive of RTL Group, which owns broadcaster Five, also spoke about the issue, claiming “product placements are a commercial fact of life”.

Zeiler added: “Carefully regulated product placement is a legitimate revenue stream and the money raised could be used to support the production of original content - content the viewers want to watch.”