Great Moments In Product Placement History: The Top 10 for 2010

Am I in an ad or a TV show?

Nielsen recently issued their Top Trends of 2010.  Most of the findings you either already knew (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo sold really well) or didn't care about (Snacks/Spreads/Dip-Dairy sales grew 9.3%).  But the golden morsel is a ranking of network shows with the most product placements.  In an funny twist, this is the only Nielsen Top 10 list featuring any shows from NBC.  In fact, the Peacock grabbed three of top four spots.  The ghost of Ben Silverman lives on.

Here's the top 10 shows in terms of total placements for 2010.*  Now you know what drives your cravings for Coke, Subway, Sears and 1-800-Flowers.  [Note: Nielsen didn't do the episode count or shills per episode.  I did because I was curious as to what those numbers would be.  If my math is right, Celebrity Apprentice has one placement for every two minutes of program time.  Eeek!]

1. American Idol - 657 placements (43 ep.) - 15.3/episode
2. The Jay Leno Show - 507 placements (24 ep.) - 21.1/episode
3. The Celebrity Apprentice - 503 placements (21 ep.) - 24/episode
4. The Biggest Loser - 486 placements (28 ep.) - 17.4/episode
5. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - 382 placements (19 ep.) - 20.1/episode
6. America’s Next Top Model - 373 placements (23 ep.) - 16.2/episode
7. The Amazing Race 16 - 325 placements (21 ep.) - 15.5/episode
8. America’s Got Talent - 274 placements (31 ep.) - 8.8/episode
9. Dancing with the Stars - 270 placements (37 ep.) - 7.3/episode
10. Undercover Boss - 214 placements (18 ep.) - 11.9/episode

I'd make a closing joke here, but I'm pretty sure the joke is already on us.

*Source: The Nielsen Company. Note: Data from Jan. 1 - Nov. 21, 2010, Broadcast Primetime Networks (includes ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC). First-run episodes only. As a result of coding enhancements implemented in 2009, occurrence counts now reflect the total number of show segments in which a brand/product appears or is mentioned.