Key Takeaways
- Infomercials are not disappearing; they are evolving with new technology and media platforms.
- Their reach now extends beyond traditional television into streaming, social media, and digital channels.
- Businesses can reuse infomercial content across multiple platforms to reach larger audiences.
- Modern infomercials combine entertainment, storytelling, and direct-response marketing to drive sales.
- Digital targeting allows marketers to reach specific audiences more efficiently than traditional television alone.
- The infomercial has become a powerful, multi-platform profit machine rather than an outdated advertising format.
A 30-minute infomercial may sound like a marketing relic.
It isn’t.
In fact, the infomercial has quietly evolved into something potentially more valuable: a persuasive, long-form video sales asset that can be deployed, tested and repurposed across many platforms and marketing channels for leads and sales… and great ROAS.
And advertisers are moving rapidly toward video.
U.S. digital-video advertising is projected to exceed $80 billion in 2026—an 11% increase in just one year.
Digital video now includes connected TV (CTV), online video, Video Sales Letters (VSL) and social video, including YouTube.
The infomercial is not dead.
It’s still on cable and TV.
It has escaped the television set.
The Infomercial’s New Role in 2026
The classic infomercial was usually a 28½-minute program designed to generate an immediate phone call or direct order.
My first infomercial was in 1989. Infomercials exploded as Ronald Reagan deregulated the airwaves.
We used infomercials for leads and sales. But also discovered it powerfully opened the door for big retailers to accept and sell the product.
That model still exists.
But today, a well-produced infomercial can become the master asset for an entire video marketing campaign.
It can be transformed into:
- A video sales letter, or VSL
- A long-form YouTube presentation
- A Facebook or Instagram video
- A connected-TV (CTV) or streaming commercial
- A webinar or automated presentation
- A videolog
- A product demonstration for Amazon
- A sales presentation for dealers or distributors
- Short-form 120-, 90-, 60-, 30-, 15- and 6-second commercials
- Testimonial and demonstration clips
- Email videos
- Retargeting ads
- Shorts and reels
- Organic social-media content
- Educational clips answering prospects’ questions
- And more
That gives the president or marketing director more than an infomercial.
It creates a complete library of sales assets.
One production can generate dozens—or potentially hundreds—of individual videos, advertisements and sales presentations.
Why Long-Form Video May Be More Valuable Today
Digital video is rapidly taking a larger share of the advertising market.
In 2025, digital video was expected to capture nearly 60% of all U.S. television and video advertising spending. That represented a dramatic increase from only 29% in 2020.
Streaming alone represented 43.8% of American television viewing in March 2025.
That shift gives marketers something traditional infomercial producers never had:
Precision targeting.
Today, you can place variations of the same basic direct-response video in front of narrowly defined audiences based on direct mail purchase behavior demographics, geography, interests, online behavior, prior website visits and customer or prospect data.
You can also measure:
- Video engagement
- Viewing time
- Cost per lead
- Cost per order
- Conversion rate
- Customer-acquisition cost
- Average order value
- Upsell response
- Revenue
- Customer lifetime value
- Return on advertising spend (ROAS)
The technology has changed.
But the principles that persuade someone to respond have not.
How Successful Are Infomercials?
Here are just 10 examples of successful infomercials:
1. SharkNinja
SharkNinja demonstrates how product demonstrations can turn household appliances into major consumer brands.
Its marketing shows the product solving recognizable problems while visually proving ease, speed and performance.
The lesson: Never merely claim what a product can do when you can demonstrate it.
2. LifeLock by Norton
LifeLock sells protection against a danger many consumers cannot physically see.
Its direct-response advertising makes an invisible risk personal, understandable and urgent.
The lesson: Long-form video can make a complicated service understandable and emotionally important.
3, Inogen One
Portable oxygen systems require education, trust and credibility.
That makes them a natural fit for testimonial-driven, explanatory direct-response television.
Inogen reported $348.7 million in total 2025 revenue, although that revenue includes multiple products and sales channels—not simply infomercial-generated orders.
The lesson: Long-form advertising is especially valuable when the product requires education and reassurance.
4. Meaningful Beauty
Meaningful Beauty uses celebrity authority, demonstrations, personal stories and aspirational benefits to make the offer more persuasive.
The lesson: A spokesperson should do more than attract attention. The spokesperson must strengthen credibility, identification and desire.
5. OmegaXL
OmegaXL has used repetition, testimonials, problem-solution advertising and continuity marketing to build a recognizable direct-response brand.
The lesson: Your offer can be fully explained.
6. Total Gym
Total Gym surpassed $1 billion in cumulative sales. Its success has been driven by demonstrations, recognizable endorsers, an aspirational outcome and a product that viewers can understand immediately.
The lesson: Demonstration plus credible endorsement can transform an unfamiliar product into a household name.
7. Proactiv
Proactiv grew into a billion-dollar-a-year skin-care business at its height through a combination of celebrity endorsements, visible results, continuity revenue and aggressive direct-response marketing.
The lesson: The initial sale is only one part of the economics. Repeat purchases and customer lifetime value can support a much higher acquisition cost.
8. George Foreman Grill
More than 100 million George Foreman grills have been sold.
The advertising did not simply describe the grill.
It demonstrated the product’s distinctive advantage in a way viewers could immediately understand.
The lesson: A vivid demonstration can communicate a benefit faster and more convincingly than a lengthy explanation.
9. Showtime Rotisserie
The Showtime Rotisserie produced approximately $1.2 billion in sales and sold more than 2.5 million units.
Its memorable “Set it and forget it” positioning compressed the central benefit into four words.
The lesson: A powerful, repeatable selling idea can become inseparable from the product.
10. Bowflex
Bowflex reached more than 2.5 million households through advertising that dramatized the desired result, demonstrated the equipment and helped prospects rationalize a major purchase.
The lesson: Higher-priced products require more proof, explanation, objection handling and payment flexibility—but they can be excellent candidates for long-form selling.
Let me give a few of the secrets to making the videos go to sales and leads with a high ROAS.
My 6 Secret Ingredients of a Successful Infomercial
1. Select the Right Product, Service or Offer
Not every product should have an infomercial.
The strongest candidates usually do one or more of the following:
- Solve a visible, urgent or frustrating problem
- Produce a result that can be demonstrated
- Offer a surprising new mechanism or advantage
- Require explanation before the prospect understands the value
- Benefit from testimonials, comparisons or before-and-after proof
- Have sufficient margins or lifetime value to support customer acquisition
- Create a natural opportunity for upsells, cross selling or repeat purchases
Household products, financial information, beauty products, health products, educational programs, investment services, insurance, technology, medical devices and professional services can all benefit from long-form video.
But you’ll see cars, high tech and more… many categories.
A simple product can succeed because it is easy to demonstrate.
A complicated or expensive product can succeed because long-form video gives you enough time to overcome skepticism, answer objections and establish credibility.
The key question is not merely, “Can we produce a good video?”
It is:
“Does the product, offer and financial model give us a realistic opportunity to acquire customers or prospects profitably?”
2. Choose the Right Length for the Product and Platform
The old decision for TV was usually between a 30- or 60-second, and I’d push for 120-, commercial and a 28½-minute infomercial.
Today, the answer is rarely just one length.
The best approach is to produce a master long-form presentation and create multiple versions for different platforms and stages of the buying process.
For example:
- 6 to 15 seconds for hooks, reminders and retargeting
- 30 to 60 seconds for a focused problem, benefit or demonstration
- 2 to 5 minutes for a concentrated sales presentation
- 8 to 15 minutes for a VSL, videolog or landing page requiring more proof and explanation
- 20 to 30 minutes for a complete infomercial, webinar or high-consideration sale
The more explanation, proof and credibility the sale requires, the more time you may need.
The video should be as short as possible—but as long as necessary to make the sale.
3. Build the Presentation Around Direct-Response Fundamentals
An infomercial is not a documentary.
It is not a corporate image video.
And it should never be a 30-minute collection of features, executive interviews and attractive scenes without a disciplined sales strategy.
A successful infomercial must be structured to move the prospect from curiosity to action.
That usually requires:
- A powerful, surprising opening that immediately identifies the problem or desired result
- A big idea and USP that makes the presentation new, different or important
- A clear explanation of the problem
- The consequences of allowing the problem to continue
- The product’s unique mechanism or solution
- A compelling demonstration
- Specific benefits—not simply features
- Credible testimonials and proof
- Answers to the prospect’s most important objections
- A strong offer and incentives
- Risk reversal or guarantee
- Multiple direct calls to action
- A credible reason to act now
Weak infomercials attempt to fill time.
Successful infomercials use time to systematically overcome every barrier to the sale.
4. Test!
As I have often told audiences and clients:
“We can guess. We can believe. We can think we know. But the reality is that the marketplace is always right.”
That is why you test…
- Test the product.
- Test the positioning.
- Test the spokesperson.
- Test the headline and opening.
- Test the offer.
- Test the price.
- Test the payment plan.
- Test the guarantee.
- Test the length.
- Test the call to action.
And then allow actual customer and prospect response—not internal opinions—to determine what you roll out.
5. Plan for Success
The infomercial should be planned as a multi-platform campaign from the beginning.
Do not produce a horizontal television program and only afterward ask how it might work on social media.
Plan the original shoot so you can create horizontal, square and vertical versions.
Capture multiple openings, demonstrations, testimonials, offers and calls to action.
Create enough variations to test different appeals and audiences.
The raw footage may be nearly as valuable as the finished infomercial.
6. Testimonials Can Make the Sale—but They Must Be Credible
Testimonials remain one of the most persuasive elements in long-form direct response.
They allow customers or prospects to see people like themselves confronting the same problem, experiencing the same doubts and achieving a desired result.
But testimonials must be specific.
“The product was wonderful” is weak.
“I was able to complete the task in 12 minutes instead of the 45 minutes it normally required” is specific and believable.
They must also comply with current advertising rules.
One Infomercial Can Become an Entire Video Sales System
This is where the new infomercial model becomes especially profitable.
Imagine beginning with one 28½-minute master presentation.
From that presentation, you could produce:
- Three different VSLs
- Five YouTube advertisements
- Ten Facebook and Instagram advertisements
- Six connected-TV commercials
- Twenty testimonial clips
- Ten product demonstrations
- Several email videos
- A webinar
- An Amazon product video
- A sales-training presentation
- Dozens of organic social-media posts
You can then test different:
- Hooks
- Audiences
- Offers
- Prices
- Spokespeople
- Testimonials
- Demonstrations
- Calls to action
- Video lengths
- Landing pages
The original infomercial is no longer merely a television program.
It becomes a modular direct-response video system.
The Real Question Is Not Whether Infomercials Are Dead
The real question is:
Are you using video as a complete direct-response sales system—or merely producing isolated content?
A beautifully produced video that does not generate measurable response is an expense.
A strategically planned infomercial that educates prospects, demonstrates value, answers objections, produces leads and makes sales can become an appreciating marketing asset:
- It can work on television.
- It can work on connected TV.
- It can work on YouTube.
- It can work on Facebook and Instagram.
- It can work in email.
- It can work on your website.
And every test can help make the next version more effective.
Action:
Could Your Product Become the Next Infomercial Success Story?
CDMG has produced more than 500 commercials and videos, including 13 infomercials and over 50 video sales letters (VSLs).
But production is only one part of the process.
We combine direct-response copy, offer development, video strategy, testing, media planning and data-driven optimization to help turn video into measurable sales and profits.
If you have a product, service or information offer that could benefit from a persuasive infomercial, VSL or multi-platform direct-response video campaign, talk with Michael.
Call Michael at 615-933-4647 or email him at [email protected] to discuss your opportunity.
Your prospects are already watching video.
The question is whether they are watching—and buying from—you.
FAQs:
Q: Is the infomercial dead?
A: No, it has evolved into a multi-platform video marketing tool.
Q: Where are infomercials used today?
A: They now appear on TV, streaming services, YouTube, social media, and websites.
Q: Why is long-form video still valuable?
A: It gives marketers time to educate prospects and overcome objections.
Q: How can one infomercial create more content?
A: A master video can be repurposed into ads, clips, webinars, and sales presentations.
Q: What makes an infomercial successful?
A: Strong demonstrations, credible testimonials, persuasive offers, and continuous testing are key.
Q: What is the modern goal of an infomercial?
A: The goal is to create measurable leads, sales, and profitable customer relationships.
About Craig Huey:
Craig Huey is a Christian, political commentator, and marketing expert. He publishes The Huey Alert and hosts the Huey Alert Podcast with his wife Shelly. Together, they stand at the intersection of faith, politics, and culture, helping Christians understand the issues shaping America today.
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