TV shopping network HSN makes product placement deal with Kraft

While HSN may seem like one big commercial to critics, the St. Petersburg TV shopping network is rethinking its aversion to selling product placement advertising.

The move comes as TV networks step up selling product placement plugs within show content to overcome advertiser fears their ads are zapped by digital video recorders like TiVo.

In a deal with Kraft Foods, HSN recently had a show host display the package and list the attributes of Barilla pasta in a cookware sales demonstration, the Wall Street Journal reported. HSN also plugged Barilla on its Web site and in Twitter messages.

Next month HSN airs a three-minute segment in which a network chef whips up a recipe from Kraft Food & Family magazine using Kraft products. The network, which normally shares profits from sales with product distributors in return for air time, declined to outline the financial arrangement.