Simpson Case a Trial for Infomercials : Advertising: Direct response firms hope to start recouping the losses caused by the ‘O.J. Factor.’

Now that the O.J. Simpson trial has ended, will daytime TV viewers return to buying products that improve their memories, restore their hair and harden their biceps?

Producers of infomercials hope so. They saw their sales slump as viewers turned away from their program-length pitches in favor of trial coverage. Several industry executives said sales during the nine-month trial dropped by an average of 35% to 40%, plummeting to virtually nothing when important witnesses such as Kato Kaelin and Mark Fuhrman took the stand.

“There is evidently a very large overlap between the people who watch infomercials and the trial,” said John Kogler, publisher of Jordan Whitney Greensheet, a Tustin newsletter that covers the direct response industry. The impact of the trial has been so strong that the industry has dubbed it “O.J. Factor.”

In the past two weeks, the factor has been especially powerful, as cable channels and broadcasters extended coverage of closing arguments and of the verdict into the evening, drawing viewers away from late-night pitches that had been only marginally affected by the trial.

“The last two days have been a direct response disaster,” said Greg Renker, president of Guthy-Renker Corp. of Palm Desert, an infomercial producer and distributor. “We are still analyzing the numbers, but I expect them to show the biggest drop in response since the trial began.”

Hardest hit over the past nine months have been products pitched during the daytime, typically beauty items geared toward women. Among the casualties have been Guthy-Renker’s line of Victoria Principal skin care products, and a Vanna White tooth polish, which saw sales drop by about one-third.

Media buyers said they tried to avoid competing directly with trial coverage by airing their pitches at night or during the weekends, when the trial was not on TV. One large infomercial producer, Philadelphia-based National Media Corp., said the Simpson trial had little impact on its business because it tends to air its infomercials on weekends. But for many companies, it was not possible to avoid going head-to-head with the trial, since infomercial time is typically booked about six months in advance.

Producers with spots airing between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. mostly relied on luck. “If you happened to air on days when they were discussing some of the more boring testimony, like the DNA or some of the forensic evidence, the [sales] numbers came back to normal,” Kogler said.

The trial was not a disaster for every direct response firm. Companies that rely on 60-second pitches got a boost from trial coverage. Dona Rude, media buyer for Williams Television Time in Santa Monica, said response doubled this week to an 800-number offer for Kal-Can dog food coupons that aired on Court TV. The increase came even though 16 of the 20 scheduled spots had been preempted by verdict coverage.

“Of course, that is going to change now that the trial is over,” Rude said.