It's tough to break into the energy drink market, even with a beverage containing nine herbs designed to enhance libido.

Delmond Newton, chief executive of Fever Beverage USA, could shill his drink on the radio and plaster ads all around town. But he recently discovered that sales of his energy "stimulation drink" skyrocketed with a mere mention in a music video featuring rapper Ludacris.

Now, rather than spend money on TV commercials and other traditional advertising vehicles, he's relying solely on product placement: having the Fever drink appear in movies, television shows and music videos.

And he's turning to Los Angeles-based NextMedium, which hopes to standardize the product-placement marketplace.

Product placement has been around for decades, but it is becoming an increasingly common way for companies to get their brands in front of viewers who tune out or fast-forward through TV commercials.

NextMedium, which has 30 employees, wants to play matchmaker between those brands and television shows, music videos and other product-placement outlets. The company created an online marketplace called Embed, where advertisers can find shows, music videos and movies on which to appear, and producers can find advertisers willing to pay for placement. So far, the company has signed up 120 productions and hundreds of advertisers.

About 62% of marketers believe that traditional TV ads have become less effective during the last two years, according to a Forrester Research study, and 87% of advertisers say that so-called branded entertainment will be key to TV advertising this year.

Other studies have found that TV viewers remember products featured during shows more than in TV commercials, said Jay Newell, an assistant professor of advertising at Iowa State University.

While working as a partner in a North Carolina venture capital firm, Hamet Watt saw the rise of product placements and came up with the idea behind NextMedium. He did some research and noticed that the way products typically landed in shows through personal relationships or ad agencies was clunky.

More from Los Angeles Times staff writer Alana Semuels

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