Of course, greater in-show product placement will mean that sponsors will become even more involved with the production process, which can never, ever be good. What if you want a close-up of the tension on a character’s face but already used that time for a shot of the new VW-whatever?

As for product placement, comic books are just starting to do this. DC is putting out a comic called Rush City in association with Pontiac, about a superhero who drives a Solstice GXP. Meanwhile, the heroes in New X-Men are wearing Nike t-shirts–and the placement is paid for by Nike.

Frankly, I think the comic book placement might be even more effective than on television. Adolescent and teenage comic readers are likely to be much more suggestible than your average 21-40 viewer.

BTW The impetus for some of this is the original Gran Turisimo for the PS1. That game sold so well, that car companies were begging to be included in the series as it gave them a chance to show off their new wares. That’s half the reason there’s no real-time damage in those games. They don’t want their precious product dented in the least (it ruins the resale value.) The Gran Turisimo series often includes concept cars and in the online version on PS2 – Sony gathers marketing data for the car companies to let them know which cars are the most popular. Now if only those geeks could pony up $200,000 to buy one.

Initially, I suspect they’ll try to fight the technology. They’ll lose that fight, and eventually we’ll see a paradigm shift of some sort. I wonder if they’ll start using a lot more product placement within programs–isn’t that already starting to happen? I hear Coke is all over 24. And certainly all the reality shows use tons of product placement.

The magic Nielsen box is no longer necessary. Sure, you need the marketing data so you know where the family fits, but why can’t we sign up for that over the Internet, or heck, thru your digital cable box! The set-top cable box, and soon cable card, should be how they capture their viewing data. You can also use TiVo data or even Media Center data. How many hits did Janet’s SB malfunction get on TiVo? I remember hearing about it via every media outlet known to man, so we know they have this data. I am an avid Media Center user, so I watch when I want to watch my shows, but I don’t mind the nets knowing the shows I record.

Of course, the whole point of the Nielsen ratings is to gauge what you are watching so they can sell their advertising and slot certain ads for certain demographics, etc. The thing is, I don’t watch any ads because I use Media Center. The only live TV I actually watch is football and baseball.