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Print Paid Product Placements Pervasive

The total value of product placements in magazines is on pace to grow 17.5 percent in 2005 to $160.9 million, and product placements in newspapers is projected to rise 16.9 percent to $65.0 million, MediaPost reports. A new report from PQ Media estimates that media other than TV and film account for 18.1 percent, or $384.9 million, of all product placements. Just yesterday, radio got a wakeup call with Sony BMG’s ‘payola’ settlement. 

Industry watchdogs view the rapid rise of print product placements with alarm. On the other hand, advertisers and agency executives have said that the practice is pervasive.

Publishers are getting more vocal about their use of product placements, too. Two magazines, Relish and OK!, will make product placements a major editorial practice.

PQ Media’s report projects consumer magazines will take in $15.6 million worth of paid product placement deals in 2005, an increase of 68.6 percent from 2004, making that sector the fastest growing of all forms of media product placement. Paid product placements in newspapers, meanwhile, are on track to grow 67.0 percent to $4.7 million.