Making product placement work…?

Looking for the dress you saw on a hit television show or the jerseys worn during a football game or soccer match? An iPad app aims to help viewers shop while watching TV. Unlike television shopping channels, Watch with Ebay is a new feature in eBay's iPad app that lets users buy items related to the program they're currently viewing.

After entering the network provider and channel, items related to the TV show, the actors, guests or teams in a sporting event surface within the app, triggered by appropriate video-frame tags...

A recent US study by Nielsen found that 40 percent of smartphone and tablet owners use the devices while watching TV and 29 percent of them are searching for information related to the show.

With clothing just the start, this has to be an opportunity for mealtime dish-ingredients, and even via lingering shots of an open fridge, artistic integrity permitting, of course…