• Los Angeles Times, Monday, June 4, 2007 10 AM

New NBC Entertainment chief Ben Silverman is apt to bring advertisers ever deeper into the creative process. As an agent at William Morris, and as the head of a production company, he long courted advertisers that want more input, including product placements, and came up with sponsorship-laced programming like "The Restaurant."

While product integration upsets some TV writers and producers, who feel that sponsors may be getting too much control, networks view closer ties as one solution to declining audiences and the decline of the traditional 30-second spot.

Silverman says advertisers are demanding more influence, and "we're going to work with the creative roster to deliver it." Marc Graboff, who will serve as Silverman's co-chairman at NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio, is even more frank: "We are bringing advertisers into the process much sooner than ever before." The critically acclaimed "Friday Night Lights" features a tie-in with Applebee's restaurants. "Some show runners get it," he says. "They understand that to pay for the costs of their shows, we need to be doing these things."

Read the whole story at Los Angeles Times »