Corrie product placement 'worth £330k'

Brand analysis firm Margaux Matrix has estimated that product placement on Coronation Street would be worth £330,000 per week to broadcaster ITV.

Using technology developed for gauging brand exposure around sporting events, the firm analysed the appearance of consumer products in leading television programmes and then estimatedits their value.

The government recently confirmed its intention to relax the rules governing product placement on television to provide a new revenue stream for beleaguered commercial broadcasters.

However, the initial proposal was reduced to exclude products deemed potentially damaging to the public health, such as high fat and salt content foods, alcohol, gambling and tobacco.

Earlier in the month, Margaux Matrix used its technology to analyse a week of episodes of ITV1's flagship soap Coronation Street, in which the character Jo McIntyre died in a boating accident.

As well as detecting branded items that appeared on the episodes, the firm also looked for potential opportunities for product placement within and outside the government's proposed guidelines.

Despite efforts by the producers to conceal branded items, the analysts spotted six noticeable product placements, such as McIntyre's Nokia mobile phone on the O2 network.

The analysts also noted that generic products such as cereal boxes, drinks cans and toiletries appeared in the episodes for a total of three minutes over the week, which they estimated at being worth £330,000 to ITV.

Placing point-of-sale and poster advertising in key locations, such as Dev's corner shop and Audrey's salon, was estimated at being worth a further £230,000 on average across the episodes.

Margaux Matrix also said that if alcohol product placement was permitted on Coronation Street it would bring in £181,000 a week for ITV, representing an additional annual income of over £9 million.