Well, a prime example from everything I've gathered is just that anime isn't entirely a product on its own. Stuff gets picked often as a means of exposure for the source material. It's essentially an ad that you can sell ads on.
That's why it's so damn common to see one season wonders, is that aside from high profile projects, studios themselves see their work only as a means to push books.
I hadn't heard that take before, but I know a metric **** tonne of anime get made with the intention of selling physical merchandise (not media, but merchandise like figurines, keychains, body pillows, etc.) because the profit margins for the anime itself and its DVD/Blu-Ray/whatever release is so low (I think sometimes even it
costs money to produce).
I'm
fairly certain that product placement is a rarity in anime, but tie-ins with products are, to my understanding, more rampant than what we see in the states with video games and movies being plastered on every snack food, cereal box, soda can, etc.. It's why even the extremely artsy productions (as a not-so-random example: Eva) will find themselves on all sorts of odd products (shaving razors, cars, bowling alleys, apartments, canned bread, etc.)
The only other thing I know about anime production is what production committees actually are, as a thing. It's a risk-management system whereby several different companies -- the television channels which will be airing the show, the animation company itself, the bands whose work will become the OPs and EDs, the DVD distribution company, and others -- all invest in the project with the intent that,
if the show becomes a flop, the actual hit any ONE company takes from it will be fairly small because it's so spread out. I
think this is also why profit margins are so low in anime, because each company involved in this committee is taking part of the profits as part of the return on their investment.
So, like, I wouldn't be
surprised to learn that a lot of anime is made to promote the original manga, but what little I've heard favors it being made to sell [Spaceballs]moichendizing[/Spaceballs].