The overly strong product placement in "Xi Ren" caused offence. Is it the brand's fault?

The latest episode of "Xiren" is on the list of the most unpleasant programs, and the audience's reputation has declined. Is it a wrong choice for Meituan Group Buying to choose "Xiren" for product placement? Is it a successful marketing? Let's discuss it together in this article.

According to the data from Lighthouse Professional Edition, as the third stage of "A Wonderful Night" came to an end, the overall market share on the day the program was broadcast showed an upward trend.

But judging from audience feedback, the overall evaluation is getting worse and worse, and the sixth episode aired last Friday was even called "the ugliest episode in history."

Data source for market share trend of "Wonderful Night" on the broadcast day: Lighthouse Professional Edition. Among the negative reviews of the program, many viewers felt that the implantation of Meituan group buying offended them.

Audience feedback As a popular comedy show, why did the placement of Meituan group buying in "Wonderful Night" cause dissatisfaction among the audience? Who should bear the blame?

01

The content received mixed reviews, and the sixth episode, which caused dissatisfaction due to the strong product placement, seemed to be an episode that completely disappointed the audience.

The netizen’s comment that “it’s completely over” may be an exaggeration, but there are many viewers who hold the same view.

The reviews of "A Wonderful Night of Xiren" (hereinafter referred to as "Xiren") currently received mainly focus on two aspects: one is the content, and the other is advertising placement.

In terms of content, the audience has several criticisms of the program: In terms of guests, the program content of "Xiren" is mainly based on the works of the contestants, but the invited guests often also bear the responsibility of introducing the comedy form and the subtleties of the plot design to the audience.

However, the guests invited by "Xiren" this time, although they are very popular among the public, are not very professional. The overly "overall" performance has led to the audience's dissatisfaction with the program guests, who believe that the guests have not played a positive role in promoting the content of the program, and the show is less watchable than in previous seasons.

In terms of netizens' evaluation of the works, the contestants of "Xiren" are composed of new and old contestants, just like the second season of "Annual Comedy Competition". However, there are very few outstanding works at present, and the works that leave a deep impression are very few, and the few works with good effects are also completed by the old "Xiren" of the first two seasons.

This also leads to a poor viewing experience for the audience. The contestants' creativity has obviously reached a bottleneck, which is a fatal problem for comedy shows. Programs without novelty will find it difficult to win the audience's applause.

Netizens commented that on the basis that the content did not satisfy the audience, the advertising placement also became a target of criticism. Many viewers believed that the program's title sponsor, Meituan Group Buying, had too many advertising placements in the film, which was uncomfortable.

The criticism of ad placement can be divided into two parts. On the one hand, many viewers think that the placement of ads in works is too frequent and sudden, which is an invasion of their viewing experience. Some viewers even admit that the integration of ads is effective, but it is still difficult to accept.

Netizens commented that on the other hand, too much repetition outside the works also caused resistance from the audience. For example, when evaluating the works, the host Ma Dong deliberately led the topic to advertising placement, which caused dissatisfaction among the audience.

Comments from netizens: Admittedly, the feedback received by "Xiren" was not all negative, but in an environment of mixed reviews, both the program team and the brand would fall into self-reflection: Is such placement really a bad thing?

02

There are many controversies in this advertisement, who should take the blame?

Whether in movies, TV series or variety shows, it is nothing new that advertising placements cause controversy. But as a brand, you still need to consider the reasons for the controversy.

Judging from the show "Xiren", TOP Jun believes there are two reasons.

As we all know, although "Xiren Wonderful Night" and "Annual Comedy Competition" are broadcast on different platforms and have different names, their content, format and personnel are the same. Therefore, "Xiren" is essentially a variety show of the Nth generation, and this identity itself faces a lot of pressure.

From "Running Man" to "Sisters Riding the Wind and Waves" and "Flowers and Youth", whether it is a travel reality show or a talent show, the main challenge faced by the Nth generation of variety shows is often how to give the audience a sense of freshness with the same program format. For example, "Longing for Life" had to say goodbye to the audience in its seventh season due to lack of creativity.

This challenge is even more true for comedy variety shows such as "Wonderful Night of Xiren". Sketch (sketch comedy), as a new form that has emerged in the past two years due to the show, has a relatively narrow audience. With the change of each season of the show, the more quality works the audience watches, the higher their laugh points, aesthetics and thresholds, and the difficulty of the contestants' creation of works also increases. In addition to many uncontrollable external factors, comedy competitions, talk shows and other comedy shows have been vacant in the market for a long time. The audience's desire for comedy shows has unprecedentedly raised the expectations of "Xiren". In the highly watched environment, both the show and the brand face the challenge of being "judged".

As a result, Meituan Group Buying naturally became a major focus of the program, and more attention also meant more diverse feedback, and the continuous negative reviews were unpredictable. On the other hand, the controversy surrounding Meituan Group Buying's placement was also inevitably linked to the decline in the quality of the program's content.

Judging from Douban audience reviews, the first two seasons of "The Annual Comedy Contest" and "Wonderful Night" received scores of [8.6], [7.7], and [7.4] respectively, which means that the programs are increasingly failing to meet audience expectations.

The audience has a natural resistance to advertisements, and the form of inserting advertisements in the works makes it difficult for the audience to accept. Under the pressure brought by the Nth generation of variety shows, the performance of the works in the "Xiren" program is mediocre. The superposition of various factors also makes the brand implantation environment face more challenges.

Overall, the pressure from the external environment and the program itself caused the brand implant to receive widespread negative reviews, and the brand really cannot take the blame for this.

03

Is it really a bad idea to product placement in "Xi Ren"?

Be it pressure or challenge, these are factors that brands must consider and face when choosing variety show placement.

Audience feedback must be absorbed, but returning to the marketing itself, is the placement of Meituan Group Buying in "Xi Ren" really bad? TOP Jun believes that from the perspective of brand marketing, there is nothing wrong with the placement of Meituan Group Buying.

In terms of the duration and position of the placement, from the sixth episode alone, Meituan Group Buying’s placement includes 5-second billboards at the beginning and end of the credits, a 12-second thank-you speech from host Ma Dong, a 1-minute short film at the junction of the two episodes, and less than 10 seconds of plot placement in the three works.

Overall, the duration of this placement in variety shows is within the normal range and does not infringe too much on the program content.

However, from the audience's perspective, half of the six works in one episode have product placement. Objectively speaking, the frequency is relatively high, which is indeed worthy of the attention of the program and the brand.

In terms of content, the placement in the sixth episode of "Project X", "Going Down to the South of the Yangtze River" and "Don't Cry, Yulia" is very natural. For example, the characters in "Don't Cry, Yulia" combine the four-six-eight sentences in traditional comedies with the slogan "Meituan Group Buying, Many Stores, Save a Lot", without any sense of disobedience.

Slogan = Four, Six, Eight Sentences In fact, looking back at the first two seasons, it is not uncommon for brands to be embedded in contestants' works, and it has left a very deep impression on people. In the "Annual Comedy Competition", "Hao Shi Cheng Shuang" embedded JD Home in the work "Missed Lovers" by breaking the fourth wall, which made the audience laugh.

JD.com's home product placement in the second season of "The Annual Comedy Competition" used the phrase "Hello, Teacher" to drown one's sorrows in wine and introduce the QQ Star in the wine gourd. The combination of the actor's lines and game points proved that unexpected advertisements can also be funny.

The QQ Star advertising placement in the first two seasons did not receive any negative feedback at the time. Instead, it was widely praised for being humorous enough. The controversy surrounding Meituan Group Buying this season was influenced by external factors.

But was it a wrong choice for Meituan Group Buying to implant "Xiren"?

TOP thinks not. The popularity and rave reviews of the first two seasons of "The Annual Comedy Contest" are obvious to all. Coupled with the high degree of integration between brand content and program scenes, it can be said to be an excellent choice.

The quality of the program may be difficult to guarantee, but Meituan Group Buying has also gained a lot of discussion and attention amid these controversies. The audience may be dissatisfied with the product placement, but they also truly remember the information that the brand intends to output. Isn't this a marketing success?