'The Apprentice' Cuts Branded Entertainment Price

In a further sign that "The Apprentice" has lost luster as an TV advertising vehicle, the show's high-priced product integration deals for the upcoming sixth season are being peddled for half the amount of the current season.

The product integration packages--which include a company's product becoming part of the contests between the two teams, widespread logo placement, and appearances by company executives--are being offered by Mark Burnett Productions for $1 million to $1.5 million, according to media executives. That price range is down from the $2 million to $3 million or more asking price for season five, which wraps June 5.

Even so, Burnett's company will be hard-pressed to get the $1 million to $1.5 million price for season six, which launches in January and will be set in Los Angeles. Media executives say brand integration packages can be had for considerably less.

Even then, "The Apprentice" remains the highest-priced TV show for branded entertainment deals. That's because the show typically devotes virtually the entire episode to a company's marketing campaign and/or product.

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Mark Burnett Productions has a unique deal with NBC where it gets to sell the product integration packages and keep the revenues. A Burnett spokesman did not return emails or phone calls by press time.

The once super-hot reality show has been on a steady decline. Critics--including Donald Trump himself--now say "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" diluted the ratings of both shows.

NBC moved the finale of the current fifth season out of the May sweeps--a sign that the network has concerns about its ability to deliver big ratings. NBC has scheduled only one cycle of the show--season six--for next season, instead of the usual fall and spring versions.

Ratings for the current season are down 25 percent in the crucial 18-to-49 demo compared to season four. Compared to last spring's season three, "The Apprentice"'s numbers are down 60 percent.

The good news is that the show has a strong upscale profile--still one of the highest among network prime-time shows. Although the integration price is still the highest for any TV show, a media executive who has done a recent "Apprentice" deal says: "It is one of the few properties that does it right in terms of integration, making sure that the brand interests are well-represented."

That person also said that despite the ratings declines, the show has a record of contributing to "a real impact on sales" for products that become part of an episode.

However, a spokesman for Mark Burnett Productions, responding by via email, wrote: "Sponsor interest in the sixth Apprentice is stronger than ever especially given the increase in ratings this week. We've signed several fortune 500 brands to 7 and 8 figure deals and continue to sign new companies as the days go by leading into the start of production."

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