Commercial breaks vs. product placement: what works for young consumers?

• Author: Tierean O.M., Roman D. E.
• Pages: 71-78

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series V: Economic Sciences • Vol. 8 (57) No. 1 - 2015

Commercial breaks vs. product placement:

what works for young consumers?

Ovidiu Mircea ŢIEREAN1, Delia Elena ROMAN2

Abstract: The article presents the results of a quantitative marketing research conducted on

young consumers from Braşov County regarding their perceptions about commercial breaks

and product placement during the most important reality shows. The purpose of this

research is to determine to what extent young consumers watch the evening shows and to

what extent they remember the brands advertised during commercial breaks and product

placement within the shows. For young consumers, the evening shows are time spent with

family and friends. A large majority do not watch the commercial breaks and they mostly

remember brands that also practice product placement during the shows. There is a direct

corelation between numbers of shows watched and the percentage of consumers who

remember the main sponsors for evening shows.

Key-words: quantitative research, commercial breaks, product placement.

1. Introduction

The television advertising industry in Romania accounts for 193 million euros, 63%

of the advertising industry. The first two TV broadcasting companies, Media Pro

Group and Intact, have received 80% of the 193 million euros. The combined

market share of TV stations in their portfolios accounts for 55% (Obae, 2014).

Pro TV (Media Pro Group) and Antena 1 (Intact) run the most viewed shows

in Romania. “Romania's Got Talent” (Pro TV) spring 2014 is the show that had the

largest market share in the history of entertainment in Romania. The average

audience rating was 29.7 points and the market share was 59.1%. In other words, the

show averaged in its fourth edition 5.7 million viewers across the country.

In the fall of 2014, Pro TV and Antena 1 engaged in a competition for viewers

with two singing shows (The Voice and X Factor respectively) and two cooking

shows (Master Chef and Hell’s Kitchen respectively). The singing shows had a

combined market share ranging from 35% to 40%. The cooking shows had a

combined market share ranging from 27% to 33%.

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, ovidiu.tierean@unitbv.ro

2 Transilvania University of Braşov, roman.delia@yahoo.com