Infomercials aren’t just on TV any more. They often run as broadband videos on the Web, with sales made online instead of via toll-free telephone numbers.
Livemercial, based in Valparaiso, Indiana, streams direct response advertising online for a range of companies. The infomercials, which originally ran on TV in long-form or short-form versions, appear on the Web in all their splendor, demonstrating the products and asking for a sale. The TV infomercials are repurposed slightly, with “Order Online” instructions replacing the toll-free number at the end.
The broadband infomercial for PackMate, CA, which can be seen here, features the program in a screen on top of the home page, with a Stack & Vac Demo in a smaller box on the left and a series of testimonials underneath the main screen that can be clicked to play.
“We developed our own streaming platform,” said Jeff O’Connor, VP of sales and media at Livemercial. “We’ve done 900 broadband infomercials and we currently host 475 Web sites. The products have a life cycle of 90 to 120 days and 85 percent of the sites have infomercials.
“The sites act as a place where they can view the infomercial, the testimonials and the product descriptions, and a shopping cart where they can make a purchase,” O’Connor said.
The broadband infomercials are supported by the TV versions, which are “tagged with a url so viewers can come to the site where the infomercial is restreamed with a call to action,” O’Connor said. “They can capture sales this way instead of a toll-free number. Half of all infomercials have it now.”
Jordan Pine, VP of marketing at IdeaVillage, Fairfield, NJ, said his company uses Livemercial and one of its competitors Permission Interactive, to run broadband infomercials. “We launch six to 12 products per year in retail categories like household items, tools and pet products,” he said. “The products have a short life cycle of up to two years and the Web site with the infomercial stays up for the full term,” he said.
Not all companies put their infomercials on line immediately, he said. “They don’t build a site until they run the TV commercial in a test phase for a month. They buy a few strategic cable stations and do a small media plan. If it’s a good response, they expand it, put up the site and run the infomercial. But we do it fast, so the site is up and running when we start. The percent who buy online varies by product and you don’t know how many sales you’ll get from the Web, but with some campaigns it’s higher than 50 percent, so we want to be there from the start,” Pine said.
Andrew Gordon, president of Direct Impact Group, a direct response firm in Newton, MA, that specializes in broadcast lead generation, said broadband informercials can be successful because they are fully watched. “Traditional TV infomercials are 28-1/2 minutes long and most people don’t watch the whole program, it’s not appointment TV,” he said. “So marketers are taking the programs and streaming them on their sites to refresh them and provide another viewing opportunity. In the old days, marketers were in control, but today consumers are, so this allows consumers to view them at their leisure.”
Director Christophe Ruggia Found Guilty Of Sexual Assault In France’s First Big #MeToo Trial
A Paris court found a filmmaker guilty of sexual assault on French actor Adèle Haenel when she was between 12 and 15 in the early 2000s, in the country's first big #MeToo trial.
Filmmaker Christophe Ruggia was sentenced Monday to two years under house arrest with an electronic bracelet plus a two-year suspended sentence. Ruggia had denied any wrongdoing.
Haenel, now 35, was the first top actor in France to accuse the film industry of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse after the #MeToo movement broke out. In 2019, she accused Ruggia of having repeatedly touched her inappropriately during and after filming of the movie "Les Diables," or "The Devils," in the early 2000s.
Haenel appeared relieved, breathing deeply, as Monday's verdict was being released. She was applauded by some women's rights activists as she left the courtroom.
The court ruled that Ruggia "took advantage of the dominant position" he had on Haenel at the time. "During quasi-weekly meetings at your home for over three years you had sexualized gestures and attitudes," as Haenel was "gradually isolated" from her loved ones, the court said in a statement.
Ruggia's lawyer said her client would appeal.
He "maintains that he has never touched Adèle Haenel," the lawyer, Fanny Colin, said. "Sentenced in these conditions and on the sole basis of her words seems to us not only unjustified but dangerous."
Haenel, star of the 2019 Cannes entry "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," has in recent years vocally protested what she's called an insufficient response to sexual abuse in French filmmaking.
At the César Awards in 2020, she walked out of the ceremony after Roman Polanski won best director. Polanski is still wanted in the United States decades after he was... Read More