ABC, Media Buyer MindShare Collaborate on Programming

TV network ABC has formed an unusual partnership with WPP Group's media-buying arm MindShare North America to collaborate on programming.

The deal lets MindShare help develop prime-time shows and perhaps promote clients' brands in programs, reports The Wall Street Journal. MindShare helps fund production and could share profits of hit shows, the report said. It also gets ad time at a set rate. Clients Unilever and Sears, Roebuck & Co. reportedly have shown interest in the set-up.

New York City-based MindShare will pursue promotional venues beyond simple product placement, such as exclusive sponsorship of an episode. The firm recently hired former CBS Entertainment president Peter Tortorici as director of programming. The deal came through ABC's entertainment execs, not its sales division, The Journal reports.

The partnership is likely to catch flak: Watchdog group Commercial Alert has asked the Federal Communications Commission to scrutinize product placement, and recently lobbied Sesame Workshop to drop McDonald's sponsorship of Sesame Street (Nov. 13 Xtra). The issue will heat up as marketers thread brand messages into programming to circumvent commercial-zapping devices like TiVo, and consumer advocacy groups take umbrage with that practice.

The ABC/MindShare deal could prove sensitive because it involves prime-time sitcoms and dramas, which have been considered off-limits despite promotional tie-ins with soap operas and other programming.