How many people watch hsn

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By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. At-home shopping shows still make a lot of money.

Share this story Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share All sharing options Share All sharing options for: At-home shopping shows still make a lot of money. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Martha Stewart wearing a centerpiece as a hat on QVC. QVC The fustiness and human weirdness of QVC, founded in , has been a recurring bit on Saturday Night Live , which often returns to easy jokes about women with Steel Magnolias hair and Old Navy blouses struggling to keep their composure in a high-pressure, low-production-value nightmare.

Next Up In The Goods. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email. In there were about channels available per household.

In , there were , and a year later, there were The fact that the company, which previously leaned solely on TV, has been able to maintain a footing in the digital space may come as a surprise. Even Comcast is expanding its on-demand, online video services. QVC says its "viewership levels have remained stable," despite reports that its TV viewership is down. Some argue it's the jewelry offerings that have kept their signal strong.

Regardless, the company says that for years it has taken matters into its own hands by moving into the digital world. This November, QVC celebrates its 30th year since its first broadcast, with programming still continuing in front of a live audience.

So who are these people keeping home shopping networks afloat? Could it be people who just love to shop via their TV like they always have? Are they your grandma, who just enjoys the UPS guy showing up on her doorstep? Multiple platforms, eh, including mobile? Years ago customers could text QVC to purchase items. Then followed mobile-optimized websites, then apps for shopping.

They trust me because I am who I am on all the other shows I do, which is just myself. That's why I think this has all worked for me. This translates to sales, and in a very short period of time. On the day of our interview, a jacket from Rancic's collection was "Today's Special," an item that's offered at a discount and promoted by the seller for a full day, or until it sells out. When asked how selling on TV compares to a more traditional retail model, Rancic puts it bluntly: "Where else can a designer sell 40, of one jacket in a hour period of time?

Petersburg that's sprinkled with fast-food chains, a Hilton, and not much else. HSN HQ is comprised of 10 different buildings, and it's an elaborate maze of office spaces and studio sets.

There are televisions everywhere, from the cafeteria to the employee-only shopping emporium a few blocks away. The only place I don't see a TV is the bathroom. HSN builds over 80 different sets across seven different studios, including an outdoor set complete with several fake porches and front doors that lead to nowhere.

Over the course of a year, HSN builds over 80 different sets across seven different studios, including an outdoor set complete with several fake porches and front doors that lead to nowhere. Wheelchairs can be found near each stage, as crew members use them to transport show hosts from one studio to another in as little as 30 seconds.

This gets them in front of the camera when they need to be, and keeps them from looking flushed and out of breath. Many of the show's hosts the ones leading the segments, setting the pace and dictating the structure and sellers the actual faces of the brands have been with HSN for decades.

Bobbi Ray Carter is the longest-running show host, having worked there for 32 years. Russell biopic — is celebrating her 15th anniversary this year. Naturally, there's a coinciding sale. The HSN personality is the sales associate of department stores past: the person who had you in their client book, who'd call you when something they knew you'd like came in, who'd actually set aside some time and make an appointment for you to try everything on.

Attentive personal shoppers — like Bergdorf's famed Betty Halbreich — are few and far between. As Gilman puts it, "There's no communication in retail.

You ever walk into Macy's in New York? HSN's origin story is told like folklore to visitors at the company's headquarters. In , a radio station in Florida owned by Lowell Paxson and Roy Speer was given electric can openers by an advertiser that couldn't pay its bill. The men decided to have radio personality Bob Circosta sell the kitchen tools on-air for 10 bucks a pop to make up the money they had lost.

The can openers sold out. Soon, a regularly-scheduled sale-based radio show called Suncoast Bargaineers was introduced. By , the show had evolved into an entire channel on Tampa public access cable. It went nationwide in , and in , the newly-renamed Home Shopping Network became a publicly-traded company. It continued to grow significantly over the next few years, eventually attracting the attention of big-name investors.

Years of complicated corporate reshuffling ensued. To many, the two networks are nearly synonymous, but diehard fans are quick to explain how they differ. QVC" spans five pages. HSN talks frequently about its core customer, the middle-aged woman.

C onversely, there's no such thing as the "QVC shopper. But one of the most notable differences is how each identifies its shopper. Conversely, there's no such thing as the "QVC shopper," or so the company would have you believe. From its website : "Our customer base spans virtually all socio-economic groups. Because the audience for each QVC program is driven by product, demographics vary significantly from one hour to the next.

But it wasn't always that way. There was a time when HSN's innovation went dry and growth came to a halt. From to , the company went through through seven CEOs. The aesthetics were dated. The products weren't aspirational and didn't seem very relevant. She was tasked with rebuilding the brand from the inside-out. Grossman studied the company closely before making any major moves, watching hours and hours of programming. During this time she caught a segment hosted by chef Wolfgang Puck that would serve as the blueprint for the new and improved HSN: "He was engaging and entertaining and he wasn't selling.

He was inspiring and engaging customers and they wanted to buy his product because of that. By , Grossman had made a solid dent with HSN's first major revamp and taken the company public once more.

She introduced a new class of higher-end brands, put on exciting shopping events, and built up the company's e-commerce presence. A second big overhaul came in , when HSN got an updated tagline "It's fun here" and an ad campaign that wouldn't have looked out of place in a major fashion magazine. New hosts were introduced, packaging was upgraded.

The overall tone of the company became fresher, more with it, more exciting. HSN went from a late-night guilty pleasure to a place you might actually buy something from. And buy people did: In , HSN's sales grew 14 percent , while the average growth across the retail sector was just over 4 percent.

HSN had officially bounced back. Diane Gilman is one of HSN's most prolific sellers. The "Jean Queen," as she's known, is 70 years old, though you'd never know it if she didn't tell you and she will tell you — her age is an important part of her personal brand. When I meet Gilman, she's wearing a crisp white blouse "from Net-a-Porter" and a smattering of gold jewelry paired with her signature stretch denim. It's clear from her entourage two stylists, an assistant, and her personal makeup artist and the flurry of visitors that cycle in and out of her dressing room that she's a big deal here.

Gilman designs for the women in their fifties and sixties that the retail world all but refuses to acknowledge.

Gilman began selling jeans on HSN 21 years ago, back in She had been in the fashion game for a long time before that though. Then she lost the rights to her name after a deal gone awry and wasn't allowed to sell clothing under the Diane Gilman label in stores.

So she started over at HSN selling washable silks, eventually convincing the network to let her design denim under a new label, DG2.