Getting CanTeeVee Cheesy

SIMON HOUPT is a sharp writer for the Globe & Mail, and it looks like he's starting a new gig that sounds a lot like the beat I used to cover lo those many moons ago on media television: he's the Globe's new Marketing and Advertising reporter.

In his first dispatch, he runs down a bit of the particular challenges of making Product Integration work on Canadian shows. I have to admit, I'm a lot less worked up over this than I used to be. Call it attrition fatigue -- but of all the things that are stacked against us here, product integration is pretty far down the list.

Today, viewers who objected to the ham-fisted wedging of these ads into their favourite shows just a few years ago largely shrug off the commercial placements, not only on reality shows like Survivor, Top Chef, and American Idol but also on Emmy-winning fare like The Office and 30 Rock.

When Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, left the network last month, he did so to join up with Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp for a new venture that will create branded entertainment: television shows seamlessly blending advertising into the content.

Canadian advertisers say that's a game they can't hope to play. Marketers here note that deals securing placement of a major brand on a U.S. network are struck between multinationals who have no time to worry about the concerns of a branch office in Toronto, which may believe a different creative approach is required to appeal to Canadian consumers.

The article touches on several of the unique problems of growing this revenue stream in Canada. For my money, you can toss a coin to see which is more of a challenge -- the general conservative nature of Canadian advertisers, or the very real fact that placements for 20K are often more trouble than they're worth. If a placement buys you an extra day's shooting, great. But if you're going to keep three people running around for weeks for something that's not even going to buy you a day - ehh. not so much.

Interesting fact that jumped out at me, that I didn't know -- the network takes up to 60% of any revenue deal. Man! Sixty damn percent! There is just no end to the vise-like problem of raising a budget here.

Brrr.

Whenever I feel sorry for Canadian Producers, it's like an angel walks over my grave... :)

...and for the record. I'd be happy to write in Advil. Sweet, sweet Advil. Advil Blue, I love you.