Long Form advertising, also known as the infomercial, refers to the length of the advertisement. A long form ad is commonly referred to as the half-hour or 30 minute infomercial. Strictly speaking the actual lenght of a half hour program is 28 minutes and 30 seconds in most cases. The balance of 1 1/2 minutes is used by the station or network for their own advertising purposes. On some networks, like CNBC, the length is only 27:30 and the network takes 2 1/2 minutes for their advertising. This does not mean that you need to re-create a show that is one minute shorter in lenght for these networks. We cut frames across the entire 28:30 to shorten the show without losing content. At roughly 30 frames per second for standard definition we cut 1,800 frames across the show and end up with a 27:30 with all the content in tact.
Short Form ads are commercial which are shorter than the half hour infomercial. They can be 5 minutes, 2 minutes, 60 seconds, 30 seconds, 15, 10, or even 5 seconds long. Short form advertising is best served for products which are simple to explain or are at a low enough price point to stimulate an impulse buy. They are also very effective for branding efforts.
Both Long form and Short form commercials have their features and benefits. One of the biggest obstacles to creating a full-blown infomercial is the initial production costs. Infomercials typically have longer pre production times including a lot of concept development and lenghtly scripts. There are typically more shoot dates and larger crews and the post production process is much more involved. With that said, the infomercial stimulates the greatest response. You have a half hour in front of your potential customer. It is the prefered format for complex or expensive products.
Often times, the initial production costs for a short form commercial are less than infomercial production costs. These DRTV commercials also have the ability to be placed in time slots and programming that is sometimes unavailable to an infomercial. This can provide for very effective targeting of your ads in programs and times that directly target your audience.
So, which format is right for your product? A general rule of thumb is that if your product is easily explained or demonstrated in a short amount of time then short form DRTV might be right for you. If you have a complex product, or if your sales cycle is long, then perhaps the infomercial is the best route for you. There are of course a number of details which are specific to each campaign and cannot be described in these general terms. If you're not sure which path is best for you we invite you to complete this short questioneer and we'll give you the pros and cons specific to your goals.
