Infomercials and Direct Response Video meets the Internet

The infomercial hit late night television over 20 years ago and its popularity and success at generating sales has been increasing ever since. Infomercials, or direct response video as the industry calls it, has sold more than $100 billion of products over the years.

Once relegated to late night television, the infomercial has become a staple of television programming. Now, Sunday afternoon tv schedules are filled with infomercials on all the major networks when they are short on sports programming. This is in large part because tv infomercials are now big business.

As the value and success of the infomercial has risen so have the costs. Now, to produce, test and run a bare-bones, low budget infomercial can easily cost $250,000 to $1,000,000. Obviously this has pushed the infomercial out of the range of small businesses.

Now, thanks to the Internet, infomercials and direct response video are once again becoming available to the small business person and entrepreneur on a shoe string budget.

The adoption of broadband internet video access has been the fastest-spreading technology wave of all time. Seventy-five percent of U.S. homes—more than 40 million—and more than 120 million homes worldwide already access the Internet through broadband connections. This is the foundation that is making Internet TV possible and is enabling the small business owners to now consider using Internet Infomercials as well.

Over the last few years, we've seen hundreds of ebooks, consulting services and other resources that have explained the basics of copy writing and techniques for direct marketing and how it can and should be applied to the Internet. Many small businesses have increased sales and profits by applying the lessons learned.

Now, we are about to embark on another educational journey, this time applying what the direct response video and infomercial experts have already perfected from tv and begin to apply this to internet video.

Here is one of the first, and very comprehensive, infomercial how-to programs now coming to market. Small business owners in competitive fields may find the internet infomercial a distinct advantage. Consultants and creative types may find that the internet infomercial will become a profitable and enjoyable business niche.

As Internet Video continues to gain ground with consumers, and business continues to become more and more competitive, its only a matter of time before video infomercials on the web become a necessary part of the internet sales and marketing process.