Commentary

Back To Basics: San Francisco TV Station Cancels Daytime Infomercials

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 14, 2015

In a content-glutted TV world, some infomercials may just disappear. San Francisco independent TV station KRON now says it is abandoning daytime infomercials for regular programming. Its three new shows will be “Bridezillas,” “Hollywood Today Live,” and“Crime Watch Daily.”

What gives? Ashley Gold Messina, vice president and general manager of KRON, says the reason is simple: “This move adds continuity to our schedule, gives the Bay area viewers a reason to stay with KRON 4 all day long, and gives us an additional promotional platform for our news products.”

Messina says it’s the first time KRON’s Monday to Friday schedule has been without infomercials in daytime since 2002!

Here’s another reason to kill infomercials: TV viewers no longer have to struggle through obvious long-form TV advertising on traditional TV. They have options -- like long-form programming on Netflix, HBO Now, and Hulu. Consumers can go in the other direction as well viewing skateboard tricks on YouTube after watching just five seconds of an ad message.

There’s also more traditional TV programming than ever before -- a glut, some say.

Proponents who will give you thousand of reasons why infomercials still work. But perhaps you don’t need TV stations’ valuable daytime airwaves to do that. Why can’t TV stations just use -- gasp -- their websites for infomercials, for example?

Lots of TV pundits talk about the death of the 30-second commercial or commercial avoidance due to fast-forwarding, skipping or deleting. But what can you do with infomercials?

Anyone fast-forwarded through P90X, ProActiv, or OxiClean lately?

7 comments about "Back To Basics: San Francisco TV Station Cancels Daytime Infomercials".

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Jonathan Hutter from Northern Light Health, September 14, 2015 at 3:13 p.m.
Like it's a real civic responsibility to present viewers "Bridezillas" as opposed to an informercial. I would guess that KRON will stick with this move as long as the economics play out, but not longer.

A radical move would be to present short-form video of the YouTube variety, but using the broadcast signal. It would at least be more of a novelty, and the advertising interruptions would be more tolerated, because it is "free TV" after all. Imagine a TV station really being in the content business.
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Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, September 14, 2015 at 4:32 p.m.

Showing infomercials on a primary broadcast station in a major market during daytime has always puzzled me. At 3 in the morning it makes at least some sense, but why waste, or drive-away, a buying daytime audience with junk infomercials? I'd love to see exactly what KRON was charging for those things.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, September 14, 2015 at 6:13 p.m.

Guys, KRON-TV used to be the primary NBC station in San Francisco but after changing hands several times and becoming an independent UHF/digital outlet relying on a lot of local "news" programming and some syndicated fare, it's not a big deal anymore. The fact that the station is dumping infomercials is no tipping point for the medium--- or infomercials for that matter.. Most people in San Francisco probably don't watch it--- or them ---anyway.

ida tarbell from s-t broadcasting, September 15, 2015 at 2:14 p.m.

The problem with television is there're too many screens! It could be seen coming when cable lashed itself to satellites. There are now fewer established radio signals in any market you can name than there are screens. I was amused by Susan Powter's 'Stop the Insanity' and Susanne Somers' 'Thank you thighmaster!" Paid religion, infomercial-like political discussions loaded for special interests and other abuses of viewers become more commonplace. There are no Fred Silvermans, Brian Tartikofs or Roone Arledges running the show at the Big Four. The number of screens available has decimated the TV mass audience. What did the Industry expect to happen? I'd take 'Bridezilla' over most of what I see on daytime TV today, with the exceptions of the nightly news from the Big Three, GMA and the Today Show. I don't know anyone who looks at very much programmed TV. Over the Top is not impressing either. Its still more of too many screens, some of it the same stuff seen packaged elsewhere.

ida tarbell from s-t broadcasting replied, September 15, 2015 at 2:28 p.m.

It didn't puzzle me. It showed what advertising-directed TV execs really thought about the medium. If the medium wouldn't produce with some sort of entertainment, then anything that produced cash was acceptable. Some will remember the FCC banned long form infomercials for the Longines Symphonette eons ago. Later they came roaring back. The FCC is usually a tool of broadcasters as is Congress.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, September 15, 2015 at 4:48 p.m.

Ida, this is not a typical case nor is KRON a typical TV station. I believe that you would find that many TV station and network managers would never consider using the format in question or make programming desisions in this manner.

Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, September 15, 2015 at 5:07 p.m.

This appears to clearly be a station theory - I don't expect there's much substantiation for what they're doing. Economics will probably win out in the end...with the medium that'll generate the best revenue for the station.

And, Wayne, people never had to "struggle through " long form - it's much easier to change the channel in fact than to seek out programming on Hulu (a pain in the...).