- Steve McClellan

NEW YORK Product placements for the top 10 travel and hospitality brands on prime-time broadcast television were up 34 percent in 2008 versus the prior year, according to the Nielsen Co.

Seven of those top 10 brands were hotels, while the remaining three were the JFK and LAX Airports and the Crow Creek Goldmine Tourist Attraction in Girdwood, Alaska.

Three Las Vegas hotels posted the most product placement occurrences. The Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino was ranked No. 1 with 474 occurrences, followed by the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino with 271 occurrences and New York New York Hotel & Casino with 197 occurrences.

Among broadcast network TV shows, Fox's So You Think You Can Dance was tops in product placements for the travel and hospitality category with 534 placements. The show's stage backdrop and image of the Las Vegas Strip feature signage for several area hotels. NBC's Last Comic Standing (445 occurrences) was ranked second and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (349 occurrences), which is set in Las Vegas, was third.

On cable prime time, TV Nielsen (through its Nielsen IAG subsidiary) monitors just five networks: A&E, Bravo, HGTV, MTV and TLC. The Luxor Hotel & Casino was the top product placement brand for 2008. TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8 was the No. 1 show with 625 occurrences, followed by House Hunters on HGTV with 410 occurrences and MTV's The Hills with 346 occurrences.

Nielsen does not distinguish between paid and unpaid product placements in its tallies, a representative said.

Adweek is a unit of the Nielsen Co.

Download Nielsen's Hospitality & Travel Report