ITV Ventures, the sister company of ITV Direct, is offering people a chance to break into the television infomercial business through a unique home business opportunity. What I’m going to do is offer a review, allowing you to make an informed decision on whether or not it’s a scam or a legitimate business opportunity.
One thing I noticed about ITV Ventures when I began to investigate them, is they have been around for over 6 years. Donald Barrett, the CEO and Founder, started the company from a bedroom in his parents house, and hit it big with an infomercial about Coral Calcium, which he did with a man named Bob Barefoot. They did over $80 million dollars in sales in 1 year, and that took ITV Direct to the next level.
From what I’ve found, they’ve been producing top 10 infomercials for the last 4 years and have done over $500 million in sales.
They ran into some problems with the FTC a few years ago with a product called Supreme Greens, but won out in court. The FTC and FDA, as many of you know, do not like natural products and tend to really go after anyone who talks about natural cures and remedies, which is what Donald Barrett discussed on his shows about Supreme Greens. I personally get frustrated with the FDA and how they’re so willing to allow pharmaceutical companies to come out with dangerous products, like COX 2 Inhibitors, but fiercely go after natural products. But, that’s another article.
ITV Ventures launched it’s home based division officially in February 2007, and created a new industry they call “Direct Response Network Marketing.” They have around 11,000 Independent Business Owners to date as of this article.
The Good:
People who join this home business can sign up for what is called “The Home Agent Program” and take live phone calls at home that come in from the infomercials. They make 100% markup on all the products they sell, as well as residual income from customers who reorder. Since the independent business owners take live phone calls, they no longer have to bug friends and family to join their home business or buy products (I really like that). You don’t have to know anything about marketing . . . they take care of that for you with the national TV infomercials that they create and film in their studios.
The Bad:
Since they are still new, they have had some bumps in the road. But, they do seem to correct the bumps pretty quickly. As of this writing, the customer service phone wait time is atrocious. I was told however, that issue is being resolved. They are in the process of hiring many more customer service reps to hopefully take care of that very soon.
So, is ITV Ventures a scam? I don’t believe so. All in all, ITV Ventures seems to have the best business opportunity on the market for those who want to create a residual income, love having a home based business, but don’t want to talk with friends and family. So far, I have never seen anything that can duplicate the dynamics of this business.