DRTV – A multichannel medium

Although DRTV, even today, is mainly about generating immediate responses from customers, the method of these responses is undergoing a change. In the olden days, almost all responses were by phone, thus making it easy to judge the success of a product by the number of calls and order. Now, potential customers are no longer confined to TV as a channel for entertainment. Their attention is divided by a myriad of channels like the internet, mobile phones, text messaging, instant messaging, etc… Today it is not uncommon to receive up to 50 % of DRTV responses via the internet. The consumer today is not satisfied with just a TV spot; they will also research on the web, compare with other products and check with other similar customers before deciding to place an order.

Therefore DRTV today is not a standalone medium. It has to be integrated along with other media to effectively reach out to the maximum number of potential customers. Marketers today adopt a multi-stepped sales model, with ongoing programs to sell consumers over time until they decide to buy. Moreover, DRTV today is also heavily into brand building, so that even if just 5%t of the TV viewers actually place an order, the other 95% have been made aware of the product.