In 1993, QVC launched the first 24 hour shopping channel on UK TV. In 2001, brands such as Guthy Renker pushed for longer solus opportunities to drive higher volumes of new customers…and teleshopping as we know it in the UK was born.
Originally starting on just a handful channels, teleshopping airtime has now expanded to over 50 channels nationally running across daytime and overnight. These stations include Channel 5; ITV2, 3 and 4; Film4 and More4; UKTV’s Dave, Drama, Yesterday, Really, Alibi, W and Eden; Comedy Central, MTV and many more.
Below are more details on the medium, and how you can understand whether teleshopping could work for your business.
So, how is teleshopping different from traditional DRTV?
- Longform commercials allow far longer product selling time versus traditional TV spots
- Spots can vary from 3mins, 5mins, 12mins, 15mins and up to 30mins.
- Teleshopping copy must include a direct offer to supply goods or services via a phone line or website with a “buy now” price or payment by instalments. Commercials that do not include pricing information and/or ordering details are not classed as teleshopping and are scheduled outside teleshopping windows.
Why could teleshopping be the right fit for your band?
- More time = More opportunity.
- Longer time lengths offer a way of showcasing informative and quality content to drive cost-efficient acquisition with multiple call to action (CTAs) – a key pillar to effective direct response TV.
- Longform offers a unique environment for brands in a highly cluttered marketplace.
- With sectors such as retail and charities fighting for airtime in busy DRTV time bands on key stations, teleshopping airtime can cut through the clutter with select solus slots.
- 30 minutes for less than 30 seconds!
- 1min = 365th the cost of shortform (regular TV ads)!
- Airtime can be bought for less than £20 in some instances, making this a very affordable route to market and opportunity for new product testing with limited risk.
- We can track it like DRTV.
- Despite the time of day being different, teleshopping TV can be tracked and monitored just like traditional DRTV, making it a great addition to a performance marketing media mix.
All Response Media viewpoint
Over the past few years, we have seen a resurgence in brands entering the teleshopping arena, with ARM being one of the key agencies to bring new advertisers to market – all based on results. Retailers and charities are amongst the top sectors where running a longform format have either delivered results on par with, or far exceeded shortform activity. Thus creating a new opportunity for a channel that had previously been discarded.
The extended spot lengths make this space a unique environment which gives your brand more time to thoroughly explain the product or service in great detail. Something that you just cannot do in shortform TV.
Equally, the value that is available in teleshopping airtime really is incredible when comparing a 30 second spot to a 30 minute spot on the likes of ITV2 or Film4. So as a new route to market or an amplification of existing broadcast TV with a performance edge, teleshopping could be a great fit for your brand.
Finally, despite the time bands being slightly different from traditional DRTV, we still see teleshopping TV as a performance driving broadcast opportunity… and we track it as such. With multiple opportunities for CTAs, unique phone numbers and URLs work as they do with traditional TV. Our tracking pixel will still track performance, and this will be married up with any phone data to deliver you a total cost per response that might just make TV work for your business
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