Digital distribution andProduct placement in movie content

I was thinking today about the advances in digital content distribution we're seeing these days, specifically with apples new TV service and movie downloads across XBox Live and the impact this might have on the value of product placement.

It may not be a big deal but for advertisers looking to get their moneys worth out of product placement this new digital renting model may take away some of the inherent value. The best way to explain it is with an example. Say you buy Transformers on DVD, this is a movie rife with product placement, the first one springing to mine for me is the iPod the army guy is holding in the helicopter scene right at the beginning (iconic white headphones especially visible). Now you own this DVD you have paid probably £8 - £12 or around $15 for it and it therefore stands to reason that you'll want to watch this content multiple times across the entire lifetime you own this product.

With services like apple TV you would instead download this movie, watch it within the allotted 24 hours (or whatever the time restriction happens to be for the service) and then the content would automatically delete from your hard drive. Are you likely to pay to rent this movie again? I would say this is unlikely.

If in fact we are heading heading towards a future where digital distribution becomes the standard is there a likely hood of movies being watched less regularly? If so, for company X paying to have product Y featured in a movie this surely becomes a less valuable source of brand exposure as consumers are watching the content only once (maybe twice) instead of the repeat views we've historically had with traditional distribution.

Obviously I'm overlooking TV and the role it plays in all this, I'm just committing my thoughts to blog and now I'm tired and ready for bed. If anyone has any thoughts please comment, I'd love to hear them.