The Television Cult: Prevalence of Brand Placements in an Indian Reality Show

Abstract

Brand Placements (BP), a predominant strategy to ensure brand prominence has not been explored substantially concerning its role in reality shows (RS). This study on content analysis examines the prevalence and pervasiveness of BP in RS with specific reference to ‘Bigg Boss’, a highest Television Rating Point (TRP) rated Indian RS. The results indicate that the brands have appeared at least once for every minute with an average appearance of 5 seconds, and exhibit that BP are integrated through the plots of RS. The findings imply that BP in RS will deliver better outcomes in comparison with other media platforms.

Keywords:

• Brand/product placements
• embedded marketing
• content analysis
• reality shows
• Bigg Boss