America's Least Wanted: Top 10 TV Product Placement Offenders

Product placement is annoying. You can’t TiVo through it, it’s distracting, and you can’t get rid of it. Neilsen has compiled a list of the top 10 shows with the most product placement advertising as well as the top 10 offending advertisers. Quite unsurprisingly, FOX’s American Idol comes in at the top spot with 4,086 occurrences of product placement. Yuck.

Read the lists inside.

Top 10 Programs: Product Placement
2006

Program Network Total # Occurrences
American Idol FOX 4,086
Amazing Race CBS 2,790
Extreme Makeover Home Edition ABC 2,787
The Biggest Loser NBC 2,478
America's Next Top Model UPN/CW 2,309
King of Queens CBS 1,954
Hells Kitchen FOX 1,909
The Apprentice NBC 1,831
Rock Star Supernova CBS 1,609
Big Brother 7 CBS 1,591
Total 23,344
 Top 10 Brands: Product Placement
2006

Brand Total # Occurrences
Coca-Cola Soft Drinks 3,355
Chef Revival Apparel 1,592
Nike Apparel 1,307
24 Hour Fitness CTRS-CLUBS 894
Chicago Bears FTBL TM 604
Dell Computers SYS 556
Cingular Wireless TEL SRVCS 533
Nike SPRT FTWR 497
Starter Apparel 496
SLS Electronic Equip Speakers 489
Total 10,323

Source: Place*Views, Nielsen Product Placement Service

The Chicago Bears? What? According to Nielsen product placements fell in 2006, probably due to the airing of more dramas. Apparently, it’s more difficult to shoehorn Coca-Cola into CSI than King of Queens.—MEGHANN MARCO

U.S. Advertising Spending Rose 4.6% in 2006, Nielsen Monitor-Plus Reports (Press Release) [PR Newswire]

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