For years we (and others) have been discussing how TV shows get financed in a time-shifted and place-shifted world. If viewers can use TiVo to skip the ads, where does the money come from? If I cut my coax and go with iTunes or Roku or Vudu, is there enough money left to fund HBO, ESPN, CNBC, etc?
Will we really be lost without Lost?
One possible solution is increased product placements à la James Bond. There are literally hundreds of examples to choose from, but a personal favorite of mine is the BMW chase scene in Tomorrow Never Dies:
In the season premier of Heroes, we saw an aggressive move in this direction by NBC. An entire scene is dedicated to Claire and her friends playing Guitar Hero 3. Another scene gets weird: Hiro and Ando are standing in front of cardboard cut-outs of themselves and a giant cardboard smartphone with the Sprint logo emblazoned across the top – an ad within an ad within the TV show.
Look for more of this to come in future episodes of Heroes and other high production value TV.
No comments:
Post a Comment