The UK government has confirmed on various occasions in various proposals that it will eventually allow product placement on British TV to provide a new revenue stream for beleaguered commercial broadcasters – the time to move on this is now, as Apple as proved.

Last year, the Apple brand dominated the product placement industry with the tech giant appearing in 18 of the 44 films that topped the box office last year including Drag Me to Hell, Orphan, The Hurt Locker and Funny People.

The statistic excludes several other Apple product placements in movies that did not top the box office – Apple really is everywhere and it’s clearly a brand that’s willing to pay big bucks. So when can the UK expect to see some of that dosh?

Italy’s government approved a decree that allows product placement on TV earlier this month. Its decision is expected to benefit Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset broadcaster and at the same time lowers the amount of advertising that pay TV players can broadcast begging the question: will product placement replace traditional TV advertising?

With more and more TV shows being watched and downloaded via the internet, product placement looks to be the silver bullet to lost revenues and a sure fire way to get your brand into the hands and infront of cosumers on the go.

Brand analysis firm Margaux Matrix estimated last month that product placement on Coronation Street could be worth up to £330,000 per week to broadcaster ITV.

Placing point-of-sale and poster advertising in key locations around the set of the show is estimated at being worth a further £230,000 on average across the episodes.

Margaux Matrix also said that if alcohol product placement was permitted it would bring in a possible £181,000 a week, representing an additional annual income of over £9 million.

This is clearly a market waiting to be exploited, as demonstrated by such brands as Apple already.