The inside view--advertising on top of advertising on HSN!

Who hasn't viewed the classic HSN ladder blooper?  [Check it out for yourself with this URL if you haven't!].  In this clip the HSN announcer makes the statement:  "This has never happened before."  True enough for ladder bloopers and advertising on the HSN...but all that is about to change!  

Why run commercials when you're already making plenty of money selling stuff?  The answer is not really that complicated--and the the Home Shopping Network makes it official.  It was just a matter of time before it happened--the Home Shopping Network has decided to run commercials on the air--something they've yet to do, that is until now!

In a historical sense, the early decision not to run commercials was a decision based on necessity--when HSN got started, it didn't have much of an audience, so what advertiser would want to buy time for an audience that at first didn't exist and, even in time, was difficult to guage in size and composition.  

Well, that's all history now.  The channel's hugely successful, with a loyal audience.  Now the decision is, again, in part driven by circumstances:  Why wouldn't HSN advertise for, say a few minutes [on average] each half hour?  What's to be lost?  Actually very little!  

If you're interested in how management decision like these are done, here's the calculus that answers the question:  With the audience the size that it is and advertising rates such as they are, HSN is bound to make more money per minute of time now to be devoted to commercials, than they'd stand to make otherwise selling few more statues or beauty kits or sets of pots and pans.  It's a no brainer--more money per minute than the way things are presently...but sans commercials.  

The program producer inside of us, says "Hey, this is going to goof-up the tone and nature of the show" [such as it may be!]--which seems a little odd to say when we're talking about the Home Shopping Network to begin with.  But you know what? its not about programming integrity--its about making money; and this is the way that objective get's maximized.  For students of business, you can't fault the HSN decision makers for making the right call.  

You can read about this and more from Suzanne Veronica of the Wall Street Journal; she reports on this new development in her article "HSN Starts mixing ads into it's usual sales pitches, on September 28.

In truth, the HSN decision brings up a great topic for future discussion--at least for students of business:  Are there other opportunities for a firm to make more money by apparently breaking the rules of engagement--yet not affecting existing sales or the positioning of the brand in the first place?  I say, "Yes"!  Stay tuned.