"Storyline placements are growing as the industry becomes more sophisticated about product integration deals," says Annie Touliatos, director of product development, Nielsen Product Placement. "Meanwhile, we're seeing a steady decline in background placements."

Nielsen's first-half product placement data demonstrate these trends, at least on cable networks, which accounted for 82% of the nearly 249,000 total TV placement occurrences logged by Nielsen.

Products being incorporated in the storyline accounted for 3,500, or just 2%, of the 204,000 total placements on the five cable networks tracked (A&E, Bravo, HGTV, MTV and TLC). But that represented a leap of 143% for the period, compared to first-half 06.

Foreground placements, representing 24% of the total, jumped 29%, to 49,181. Getting a brand shown on a T-shirt or other piece of wardrobe was the most prevalent tactic, accounting for 54,973, or 27%, of occurrences (up 4%).

In contrast, background placements represented 25% of the total, but were down 34%, to 50,139. Brand mentions, accounting for 5% of placements, dropped 33%, to 10,538. Broadcast networks showed different patterns. In fact, storyline incorporation occurrences declined by 13%, to 1,004, or 2% of the 44,726 placements logged on the networks tracked (ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, MNT and NBC).

The hottest placement categories on broadcast were wardrobe (up 64%, to 8,704, representing 19% of occurrences) and foreground (up 61%, to 11,967, representing 27% of occurrences). Brand mentions, mentions within dialogue, and use as props also jumped. These accounted for 15%, 7% and 12% and of the total, respectively.

Overall, however, incidences of placements were down 7% on cable but up 40% on broadcast.

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