Europe and Asia... growing markets for product placement

The United States may be on overload with product placements, but the market is going strong in Europe and Asia. According to this article published on bizreport.com by Kristina Knight, product placement grew 37% in 2006 to $3.36 billion and is expected to grow another 30.3% this year.
The article highlights the fact that traditional advertising is becoming less effective on consumers. Product placement is an attempt to make a more emotional connection with consumers. It reaches them in a non-traditional way and is therefore more effective. As the article states, Patrick Quinn, CEO of PQ Media says, "Media companies are searching for new revenue streams as traditional advertising methods suffer from negative perceptions. As a result, product placement has emerged from a novel marketing tactic just a few years ago to a key marketing strategy worldwide."
America has been a big leader is product placement spending. This spending will probably reach a plateau in the near future. Europe and Asia, primarily in China, are beginning to see growth in product placements. These markets will continue to grow over the next few years.