Total New Infomercials by Category
Health and fitness 120
Beauty 50
Brand/image awareness; lead-generation 49
Household 41
Business and finance 34
Entertainment, travel and leisure 31
Kitchen 25
Education and self-help 24
Sports 22
Personal 18
Crafts and hobbies 11
Computers and electronics 10
Fashion 9
Automotive 7
Miscellaneous 6
Total 457
26%
11%
11%
9%
7%
7%
6%
5%
5%
4%
2%
2%
2%
2%
1%
100%
IMS TOP 50 SPOTS OF 2007
RANK TITLE
26 Maxoderm Vivaxa
27 SunSetter Awnings
28 LifeAlert
29 Relacore PM
30 Video Professor
31 Lens Doctor
32 Nutrisystem Nourish
33 Focus Factor
34 SMC
35 Girls Gone Wild
36 Listen Up
37 The Scooter Store
38 Free Money To Pay Bills
39 Craftmatic Model III
40 Swivel Sweeper
41 Relacore
42 5-Hour Energy
43 Infinity Razor
44 Hercules Hooks
45 Attacking Anxiety
46 White’s Metal Detectors
47 Tempur-Pedic
48 My Lil’ Reminder
49 Jitterbug
50 Cholest Off
RANK TITLE
1 Ab Lounge XL
2 Enzyte
3 Gold Kit
4 Mobility Products
5 Total Gym
6 Perfect Pushup
7 Proactiv Solution
8 Direct Buy
9 Maxoderm
10 Bowflex Tread Climber
11 bareMinerals
12 ExtenZe
13 Hoveround
14 Sleep Number Bed
15 Procede
16 Bosley
17 The Bean
18 Joint & Muscle Pain Relief
19 Urine Gone
20 Tweeze
21 Nutrisystem For Men
22 Bowflex Home Gyms
23 AlertUSA
24 Patch Perfect
25 Lipozene
Long-Form DR Maintains Airtime Totals
With Fewer New Shows
By Jessica Savko
IMS Computer Science Dept.
ealth-and-fitness long-form DRTV ads continued to dominate the infomercial industry for the
sixth year in a row, with 26 percent of all new
30-minute DR shows promoting exercise equipment and
programs, weight loss, and dietary supplements or vitamins. Six of these infomercials reached the 2007 IMS
Top 10, including The Bean at No. 3 and NutriSystem
at No. 4. American Telecast’s Total Gym and Nautilus
Group’s Bowflex have appeared in the IMS annual rankings for 10 straight years, never missing a week of airtime.
Shapely Secrets, a weight-loss plan from Savvier, is new
to the IMS charts this year, and has made its way near
the top of the annual rankings as the sixth most-frequently aired infomercial on national cable networks in
2007.
Household item infomercials dropped slightly in 2007,
allowing the beauty category to regain its No. 2 position
on the chart. This is the first time the beauty category has
rated that high in three years. Cosmetics front the beauty
category, which also consists of haircare and skincare
products, as well as tooth whitening agents. MD Beauty’s
bareMinerals has led all beauty products since 2003 and
this year ranks No. 2 overall, with Guthy-Renker’s Sheer
Cover not far behind. Another Guthy-Renker beauty
favorite, Proactiv Solution, has been on the IMS annual
rankings since 1997, and has never missed a week of airtime in more than 11 years.
Despite a steady downward spiral in recent years,
the computers-and-electronics category made a small
comeback with a 1-percent increase over 2006, while
entertainment products, such as travel, music and DVDs,
dropped 1 percent. There was also a 2-percent drop in
sports-related infomercials. What category is capitalizing
on these stagnant or shrinking segments? There seems
to be a shift toward brand-awareness and lead-generation shows, which instead of declaring price offers on air,
encourage viewers to visit a Web address or call for more
information. While there the beginnings of some new
trends in infomercials, health, fitness and beauty products
remain as the driving force of the DR industry.
While the total number of new infomercials had
decreased gradually in the recent years, the near 25-per-
cent drop in 2007 did not have much effect on total airtime, which has remained virtually unchanged. It appears
marketing companies are satisfied with the current level
of success of their longer-running products, which have
become brand names. ■
