They figured out how to do an advertising with the Penguin show and they’re going to do it again with future shows. Exciting news for the 3 people that care about product placement.

That headline sucks.

Based on the article it just says that for the ad-supported tier of HBO, they only play one ad before the show as opposed to an ad every x minutes. Which sounds like a plus to me.

Additionally they mention that this one ad before every episode is better. Every week viewers tune in and see the same ad, that’s better for brand recognition.

They also say that they’re trying to focus the product to the show. So in “The Penguin” a number of scenes take place at a fancy nightclub. So ads for whiskey make sense. (I’ll add that they do drink whiskey in the show, and possibly even mention a brand, but it isn’t one related to the ad show).

Basically I think they’re saying that jamming ads down the viewers throat is a bad way to show ads, and they’ve found minimal ads to be just fine.

Gould noted that its upcoming third season had already caused a spike in room rates at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, the on-screen stand-in for the titular White Lotus resort.

Obviously season 3 of White Lotus isn’t out yet, but this shows that people want to visit a place where a popular TV show was filmed. I’m not sure if that’s an ad or something else.