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The Block defends product placement

"Product placement in free-to-air television is nothing new," says executive producer Julian Cress.

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The Block has defended its chock-a-Block inclusion of product placement.

This year’s show has drawn comment, including on Gogglebox, for the amount of advertising embedded into storylines.

Julian Cress, co-creator and Executive Producer told Media Watch, “With any show we make the experience of the viewer is first and foremost in our minds, but of course product placement in free-to-air television is nothing new.

“The Block has a long history in the integration space and we feel it works for both the audience and our clients.

“Many of our viewers watch The Block because they are looking for inspiration for their own homes and therefore want to know who provided the tiles for the bathroom or the sofa in the living room – and yes, even the kitchen sink. There is of course a fine balance required to deliver for both the audience and the clients and over 15 series and more than 700 episodes we feel like we’ve mostly got it right.

“In an era where the audience is becoming increasingly wary of advertising that is hidden, especially
in social media, we very consciously don’t do that. In fact, it is the transparency and honesty of the
relationship with the audience which has been a key element of making The Block Australia’s longest
running reality program which continues to deliver up to a million viewers every night.”

Media Watch also highlighted product placement in The Bachelor

A Network 10 spokesperson said, “Surprise! We’re a commercial TV broadcaster that accepts advertising. When we do product integration on 10, we always balance a great audience experience with strong value for our advertisers.”

17 Responses

  1. The key is in the last sentence – 10 are claiming a “great balance” between story and placement. That might have been true in the past, but certainly not this season. It is hard to find the audience experience hidden amongst the products.

    Surely they can command more dollars by offering some exclusivity (and less volume)? It works for Masterchef and Coles.

  3. Product placement makes a mockery of the “commercial content” rules and is primarily used to counteract ad-skipping. . Advertisers pay extra for placement as it’s difficult for viewers to avoid. It wouldn’t be hard for ACMA to convert the revenue from product placement into advertising seconds and count them as commecial content. Personally I’d triple count the seconds as an annoyance factor.

  4. Product placement has always been a mainstay of The Block… even in S1 the cupboards were full of Masterfoods products, they used the CBA accounting product/app, Bigpond internet and referred to their car by model name, in addition to Freedom/Stegbar/Reece/Black & Decker etc. And wearing these sponsors’ branded shirts and caps. It must be really tiresome to participate in this charade as a contestant.

    1. Yes it’s been around since series 1. I like it, it’s good to see what the use, and helps promote those businesses. Product placement and companies buying TV shows has been around for decades. Getaway Anyone?. Hence the term “Soap Opera”

  5. I love The Block and have always understood the sponsors need to be acknowledged but this year is feeling like one big advertorial. Starting to irritate this loyal viewer.

  6. Yes I definitely noticed the “Magnum Ice Cream” tie-in on The Bachelor the other night, more than once both visually and verbally. Also pretty sure Pia mentioned going to “Hungry Jacks” on Survivor the other light.

    1. I know that Hungry Jacks did sponsor previous years of Survivor (even having some rewards), but I don’t think they have any formal affiliation with the show this year.

      This year, there has been a car reward (from MG) and Deliveroo sponsored food reward – that being said, the product placements on Aus Survivor feel natural – the players are going to be excited to eat food or win a car.

      Compare that to The Block, it all feels very forced – like anyone would willingly drink McCafe coffee when there are hundreds of better coffee shops in a 100m (we are talking about Melbourne, after all)

  7. They’ve never hidden the fact that the contestants receive many tens of thousands of dollars in vouchers for places like Freedom and Beacon, and as such use their items.

    It’s no surprise The Block is criticised for this on Gogglebox. Gogglebox in Australia is a Channel Ten show and The Bachelor and Survivor are also on Channel Ten. These two shows have consistently been behind in the ratings to The Block.

    Even if the Gogglebox people weren’t directed towards this criticism in some way (um, yeah… Or say favourable this about Channel Ten shows), it would still be in their minds to limit their criticism towards Channel Ten shows, and maybe limit their praise for other stations shows.

    In the end there’s also the editing, showing less criticism for their own shows and more praise, and vice versa. This is with a few exceptions when it isn’t detrimental to give the impression…

    2. Gogglebox is an Endemol Shine (Disney/Apollo Global) show that first airs on Lifestyle on Foxtel Wednesday Nights and then replayed on TEN Thursday Nights, I hardly think Foxtel would want the show to be favourable to TEN.

      1. Gogglebox strives to give a mix of views for any show, incl Foxtel and 10, because it has to be authentic. So far audiences find it has been. That said, there will be a consensus too and for Rove it was thumbs down from Gogglebox.

        1. Exactly and that consensus on Rove matched up to the public with what was said on social media and reflected in the ratings, as I said it airs first on Foxtel so not really a TEN Show per se.

  8. Those attitudes are in stark contrast then to today’s approach to sales in live sport, where segments are often created purely for the purpose of a sponsorship opportunity.

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