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What is an Infomercial?

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Posted by Your Guide on October 16, 2005 2:07 PM

When most people hear the phrase “You can shop at home in your underwear,” they often think of making purchases on the internet. However, long before the Internet existed, people could shop at home through the use of an infomercial.

An infomercial is a very specific form of television advertising that has three main characteristics: it is an advertisement, it is program-length, and it challenges the viewer to act immediately.

First, an infomercial is an advertisement. A company purchases time on a certain television station so they can advertise their product. For example, if Pepsi Cola decided to do an infomercial they would have to buy a spot for it and the entire program would have the goal of selling more Pepsi’s. An infomercial is a commercial message, and as such represents the viewpoints and serves the interest of the sponsor.

Next, infomercials are usually program-length. Unlike the 30 and 60 second TV ads normally seen on television, an infomercial runs at least a half hour. This is because a half hour is the smallest block of air time a TV station will sell without interrupting its programming schedules.

Finally, infomercials challenge the viewer to act immediately. Infomercials are designed in such a way as to encourage the viewer to act on quickly on their reactions to the product. The sponsor usually uses many types of advertising ploys to encourage the viewer to buy immediately. An example of this technique can be seen when an infomercial exclaims something like, “if the viewer buys within the next ten minutes, he or she will get $100 off!” These types of offers encourage the buyer to impulse buy, which is very beneficial to the sponsor.



Next Page: What rules should be considered when making an Infomercial?

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