The new film “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has secured 165 commercial brand partnerships before its release. The deals carry an estimated media value of about 309 million dollars, roughly two billion kroner.
DR reported on Thursday that the film has set a record for brand deals in a blockbuster. Tom Holland plays Peter Parker again in the film, which has not yet reached cinema audiences.
The figures come from an analysis published by Forbes on August 1. According to Forbes, the number of brands and the estimated media value exceed those of earlier Spider-Man films. Forbes also describes how the placements are built into the plot and set design.
Several of the partnerships appear directly on screen. Per DR, Peter Parker uses Samsung devices, while Little Caesars pizza features in the film. ASUS computers and BMW cars also appear, as does Bero, Tom Holland’s own non-alcoholic beer brand.
Cinema has become attractive to brands
Product placement is not new, according to film and television critic Ann Lind Andersen from What2Watch. Speaking on DR’s P1 program K-live, she said the practice has followed film since the earliest days of the medium.
The main challenge, as stated by Andersen, is that the advertising must not draw attention away from the story. If an ordinary viewer notices the placements, she said, the balance is close to tipping over.
Andersen linked the development to financial pressure across the film industry. Television advertising is losing viewers to streaming and social media, she noted on K-live. In a cinema, audiences watch the film without the option to skip commercial content.
Financing expensive films has also become harder, including for the largest studios, according to Andersen. Brand collaborations help cover those budgets. She described Spider-Man as an obvious partner for companies because the character has an exceptionally broad audience across ages and interests.
That breadth allows brands to reach many consumers through a single campaign, as noted by Andersen on K-live. The character’s commercial reach contrasts with the smaller budgets seen in Danish film funding, where public support schemes carry a large share of production costs.
Forbes published its analysis during the film’s promotional campaign and ahead of its theatrical release. DR’s coverage followed several days later, on August 6, framing the partnerships as an example of how big-budget productions under financial pressure lean on product placement and sponsorship.
No studio statement from Sony or Marvel has confirmed the 165 deals or the 309 million dollar media value. Forbes attributes the figures to industry data rather than a public corporate announcement. DR repeats and converts the Forbes numbers without presenting alternative data.
