Scripps Tests Product Placement on Cooking Channel

Scripps Networks owns some of the most powerful brands on cable television with HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel and DIY. All of the cooking shows on these networks have thus far avoided the temptation of dabbling in product placement. After all, in the first half of the year, Food Network pulled in $283.2 million in advertising while HGTV earned $300.2 million in the same time period, according to Kantar Media. 

However, the company’s Cooking Channel, which launched last year, is still trying to figure out how to make dough on the scale of its sister networks. Kantar reports that the channel brought in $12.3 million in the first half of the year. Enter product placement.

Ad Age reports that the network's business side sees a plum opportunity with a series titled From the Kitchens Of, which doesn’t have a set air time and is broadcast sporadically, not only visits the kitchens of corporations including Pillsbury but also features each company’s products within its show and recipes. For that right, the advertiser foots half the costs of producing the episode, Ad Age reports.

"We wanted to be able to offer advertisers something different than" Food Network, stated Jeff Stettin, VP of ad sales for Cooking Channel. "We feel that with a network that was just starting out, we could take a little bit more risk."

Other brands that have been involved the first season’s 10 episodes include Clorox, Sara Lee, Kellogg, and Sears’ Kenmore, Ad Age notes, with all series one sponsors already signing on for a 13-episode second season run.