In this first egtabite after the summer break, we visit Slovenia, where broadcaster Pro Plus introduced a new offering to its portfolio, incorporating product placement and sponsorship tailored for an environment where strict rules apply to the format.

As elsewhere, the media landscape and viewing habits are rapidly changing in Slovenia. While linear TV ratings have declined, overall TV usage has increased with the growing popularity of VOD services, including BVOD, and TV content consumption across devices. The shift has brought particular challenges to the linear ad market, as the telco-operated set-top boxes allow viewers to skip ads during time-shifted viewing.

Successfully linking content with ad blocks

As local content has grown more popular, demand from advertisers for product placement has increased. Advertisers are interested in direct exposure and connecting with the audience. And due to strict local laws on product placement, Pro Plus has had to innovate and test different formats to introduce product placement in a combination with sponsorship and advertising blocks.

For the largest Slovenian retailer, Mercador, Pro Plus created a solution to promote the retailer’s shopping app and online shopping. The advertiser wanted to increase awareness of the app and boost downloads by offering discounts on certain products.

The campaign, which started in in 2021, brought forth a new partnership format, linking content with product placement directly to an ad block. As TV stations are not allowed to promote specific deals or discounts inside the content, this part of the campaign was done during the advertisement that followed the in-show product placement. The show’s hosts are thus part of both the show and the following ad – located in the same branded environment. With this, the ad is linked to the show’s content and vice versa.

New solutions are needed

In the rapidly evolving world of advertising, advertisers, agencies and sales houses are constantly looking to improve and evolve different ad formats. Change in media habits call for an innovative mindset, in order to fulfil clients’ requests of reaching their customers’ attention. 

Pro Plus’ client was very pleased with the outcome of the new format and the broadcaster has expanded it to other campaigns.

“It is a format that we produce ourselves, in this way we take extra care of the client’s wishes and needs, so we can offer it in addition to classical advertising. In doing so, we strengthen the link between the advertiser and us, while building a greater connection between the advertiser’s brand and the consumer,”

said Jana Štokovič, TV Sales Manager at Pro Plus.

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