According to data from Nielsen IAG, an Apple iPod product placement in the CW television show “Supernatural” was the most recalled placement in a scripted series during the four weeks between September 15 and October 12, 2008.
Recall refers to the percentage of television viewers who can recall, within 24 hours, the brand/product featured in an in-program placement.
| Rank | Brand | In-Program Placement Description | Program Airing Info | Recall Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple iPod | Dean asks Sam about music player hooked up to a jack in his car | Supernatural (CW, Sep 18) | 230 |
| 2 | Tupperware | Miriam’s belongings are found in a cardboard box containing company name | Cold Case (CBS, Oct 12) | 225 |
| 3 | Playboy | Jake reads an interview conducted with Jimmy Kimmel in men’s magazine | Two and a Half Men (CBS, Sep 29) | 222 |
| 4 | Boeing | Jonas, Bob, and Tom attempt to stop terrorists from hijacking a 767 plane | The Unit (CBS, Oct 5) | 218 |
| 5 | Scrabble (Hasbro) | The gang plays a board game in Stella’s basement | How I Met Your Mother (CBS, Oct 6) | 209 |
| 6 | Crown Victoria (Ford) | Chuck wonders whether the car barreling towards him is a Crown Victoria | Chuck (NBC, Sep 29) | 199 |
| 7 | Pecan Sandies (Keebler) | Kim discovers a box of cookies in the cabinet and Kath takes them away from her | Kath & Kim (NBC, Oct 9) | 195 |
| 8 | Harley-Davidson | Betty tells one of the models to get on a Sportster bike at publicity event | Ugly Betty (ABC, Sep 25) | 195 |
| 9 | Mercedes-Benz | Bridget tells Molly that her car has arrived; Molly drives car to see Kim a gas station | The Unit (CBS, Oct 5) | 193 |
| 10 | Dodge | John and Derek drive Ram pickup truck to the military academy | Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX, Oct 6) | 189 |
| Source: The Nielsen Company (September 15, 2008 – October 12, 2008). | ||||
| Note: Nielsen IAG’s ranking of the Top 10 Most Recalled In-Program Placements focuses on brand/product placements occurring in dramas and sitcoms on broadcast networks. In-program placements were only considered if the occurrence had visual elements or both visual and auditory elements (i.e., was both “seen” and “mentioned”). Only first-run episodes were considered. Both planned and incidental exposures were included. |
A placement’s “recall score” is the percentage of television viewers who can recall, within 24 hours, the brand/product they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing dramas and sitcoms on U.S. broadcast networks.
Recall scores are indexed against the mean score for all new product placements occurring in the scripted drama and sitcom genres during the time period to calculate a placement’s “recall index.”
A recall index of 100 indicates average recall. A recall index of 230, for example, means that the in-program placement has proven to be 2.3 times as memorable as the average placement during the four-week time period.
Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Ad Age’s “Madison + Vine” and Product Placement News.
