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 provides detailed information on exercise, weight loss, real
estate, and make up infomercials and direct response (DRTV). For more
information go to
http://www.e-infomercials.com and/or visit our affiliate site at
http://www.growthink.com.
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