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History
of Infomercials |
by:
Richard
Romando |
It all
began in the 1980's. Ronald Regan was president
and one of the many controversial things
he did in that office was to deregulate
the TV industry. Why did he do it? Well,
as a conservative Republican he lived and
breathed by the "free market rule," which
stated that the government didn't belong
in business, and businesses should live
and die by the success or failure of their
own practices and market forces.
At the same time, cable TV was just starting
its expansion into the American television
marketplace, and that opened up a huge broadcast
venue which simply didn't exist beforehand.
Anybody with any experience in the broadcast
industry was starting his own channel and
pretty soon cable channels were commonplace.
The most successful channels at the time
were religious based channels which were
basically used for fundraising purposes.
There were literally hundreds of them, from
local, small time reverends and ministers
with dubious backgrounds, to nationally
broadcast spiritual and religious shows,
utilizing well-known religious figures.
At this point, two things happened. For
one, many of the young, fledgling channels
and networks who counted on ad revenue to
keep themselves afloat attracted less than
stellar ratings and starting going under.
And at the same time, the religious channels
started to realize that their fundraising
efforts were failing miserably in the late
evening and wee hours of the morning.
Cheap broadcast space was born! And enterprising
businessmen, more like vultures than saviors,
swooped down and began to chew on the dying
carcasses of the young cable industry, buying
up blocks of cheap, late night, off peak
broadcast time and running 30 minute or
60 minute, inexpensively produced commercials
refashioned as entertainment programs.
Pretty soon there were infomercial superstars.
Celebrities, as well as a cast of unknowns,
found fame and fortune in the newly created
infomercial industry. There was Jane Fonda
who captured lightening in a bottle with
her exercise tapes simultaneously boosting
the video business along with the infomercial
business. There was Ron Popeil, who marketed
every gadget and device people didn't even
know they needed and made the switch from
printed contact to electronic contact so
successfully he's still doing it today.
And there was Kenny Kingston who made the
Psychic Hotline into one of the largest
businesses in the world without even having
anything to sell! Only in America and only
in infomercials could such overwhelming
success happen so quickly.
Soon, everybody with an idea was trying
to come up with the next big thing. As is
always the case with any new industry, immediately
following the initial success there comes
a huge wave of imitators and innovators
trying to cash in. And as always happens
- most fail. There was such a huge crush
of wannabes flooding into the business that
production rates skyrocketed and broadcast
time became more and more expensive and
less and less available. Almost overnight,
the infomercial industry went from nothing
to today's enviable haul of billions of
dollars annually. And that's just in America.
Successful infomercials, like Hollywood
movies are translated into foreign languages
and played all around the globe especially
when they are celebrity driven.
The newly created infomercial industry was
the precursor to the Home Shopping Network
and QVC which are essentially 24 hour mini
infomercials, product driven, price driven
and celebrity driven. And now we have The
Infomercial Channel - 24 hours a day of
infomercials. Gone are the days of loud
mouthed hucksters, snake oil salesmen yelling
into the camera, hawking the latest "it
slices! it dices!" home improvement device.
Today, infomercials are slick, expensive
and if they work, highly profitable.
About the Author
Infomercials
Info provides detailed information
on exercise, weight loss, real estate,
and make up infomercials and direct response
(DRTV). Infomercials Info is affiliated
with Business
Plans by Growthink.
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