The continuous growth, of the merging between what makes up a TV show and an advertisement, is getting harder to see all the time.
While I have seen some people attempting to criticize this, I can't join them in this case. Companies are increasingly responding to the demand by viewers to not interfere with the flow of the program they're watching. DVRs success is the biggest statement that viewers have made.
I find it good that companies are learning to do it in such a way that viewers are not noticing it much anymore. The entire goal is to do it in such a way that viewers no longer know that instead of watching a show, they are watching essentially a continuous ad.
What pretty amazing about all of this is that networks are now able to sell ads around the shows that are in and of themselves ads.
While the practice of ad placement has been around from the beginning of television, with technologies like TIVO (NasdaqNM:TIVO - News) it is now a prerequisite for financial success and survival.
For example do you know what company cups the American Idol judges hold in their hands every week? That is a perfect example of product placement. The answer is Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - News).
What has really launched this was the tremendously successful shows like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. This hit ABC show, had its members using products from Sears (SHLD) and Ford (F) automobiles to help to build homes for underprivileged families.
From that success it has been a sprint for other companies to make up their own advertainment shows.
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