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TiVo Watches the Super Bowl
Boone^ writes: "While millions of people were seeing a tremendous football game, TiVo was busy collecting statistics about the Super Bowl viewing habits of its subscribers. Based on a random sampling of 10,000 of the 280,000 subscribers, they found out that Pepsi/Britney was the subject of the most replayed Ad(s), and not surprisingly the play that got the most attention was Vinatieri's game-winning FG."
In the article I read on this in the morning paper, it said the ads were replayed more than plays from the game.
Now there's a commentary on why people watch the Super Bowl...
---Any philosophy that can be put "in a nutshell" belongs there.---
You are most welcome to opt-out of this data gathering.
I leave it on because 1)I believe them when they say they only aggragate the data and 2)It's an important part of their business model and I want them to succeed.
So everyone is cool with this then? I haven't seen a major /. story of Tivo aka Big Brother. Shouldn't this be under YRO?
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
I'd rather like to know how many people fast-forwarded to skip through commercials. I would have!
Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
Because now they know how many people flip when ads come one, and how many people don't flip, but how accurate are those stats? Maybe the people that don't flip are getting a beer from the fridge, or going to the bathroom, or the remove is out of reach...
There are countless reasons that I might leave an ad playing or change channels during the ads, other than just "like to watch that ad/don't like to watch that ad".
I'm with you. Something is kind of spooky when you get a little PPV spice channel and they know how many times you rewound to see the money shot.
If your not cheating your not trying. If your not trying your not winning and if your not winning why play?
Does anyone remember the premise of the show? TV Reporters only get to be on-air for as long as people are watching. The networks have big control rooms with real-time statistics of watchers. If the bar graph goes too low, you get pulled. With enough TiVo units, the networks could get the instant feedback they really want. Imagine TV lineups changing weekly, daily, hourly in direct response to viewers desires based on their TiVos. Scary, isn't it?
I think...I think it's in my basement. Let me go upstairs and check. -M.C. Escher (1898-1972)
IMJHBT (I May Have Just Been Trolled), but do this:
Enable backdoors. Then use the keystroke sequence that allows you to view log file (it might be Select, Clear, Select, Instant Replay, Select or something like that--check out tivocommunity.com and search for "backdoors". Then look at the file containing a log of all your remote control presses. Now don't tell me not to get in a tizzy because it isn't "warranted".
If they did that to you at work on your computer, I'd bet you'd be in a tizzy. I'll bet if the version of XP you're using at home did that, you'd be in a tizzy. The fact that it's TiVo and that it's an undoubtedly cool product does not in any way make this right. I support TiVo--I subscribe to their monthly service, I use my TiVo faithfully, but it does not make this sinister tactic right, especially when they send me e-mails and messages to the TiVo about how much they value my privacy.
Maybe you're not so bothered by it, but there's no way you can justify what they're doing simply because it's new technology and they need to get a foothold. They need to get a clue.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
The only way (IMHO) networks could aviod people flipping when ads come on would be to synchronise them. If all the stations play ads at exactly the same time, flipping would do no good. Of course, this would mean the networks would have to work together.
I am a Karma Library.
You apparently believe whatever TiVo tells you regarding how its keeps your information private. OK, they might do that, but should TiVo ever experience some serious financial trouble and need a way to make money quick, I don't believe for one second the information they collect won't find its way into the hands of the highest bidder.
And of course they know who you are--the TiVo serial is sent as part of the authentication when the daily calls are made. They know your entire demographic, and I'm sure it's not a huge stretch to go through those logs and calculate how many 18-24-year-olds reviewed the commercial 7:30 into ESPN's Sportscenter.
TiVo might not do this now and they might not in the future, but I sure as hell am going to remain vigilant to make sure it never happens. It's pretty scary as it is. If you want them to have that information, great, but don't expect me to want to volunteer it.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
It doesn't make sense to hide what you watch at all. Tivo can report back stuff to companies of what exactly are on peoples subscription lists and TV shows can stay on the air longer, and the sucky shows can just go die. They can also tell advertisers what commercials you really hate. Girls with bouncy breats is OBVIOUSLY going to be more popular than any other ad, but still...
Could someone elaborate on this? If the Tivo
programming fails to account for live sports
running over the alloted time, that's a big
flaw. Come to think of it, if it only gets
schedule info late at night over a phone line,
this would have to happen. Another good reason
they should move to an always-connected broadband
solution.
I mean, seriously, the people filling out those forms are not going to put down that they watched the Playboy Channel for 8 straight hours; they're going to put down "Friends," "ER," and "60 Minutes" because it's what's expected of them.
Tracking viewing habits with DVR/PVRs can only help push the networks out of churning out the same old garbage year after year.
Information gathering of this sort, assuming they stick to their posted privacy policy, isn't really such a bad thing. Advertisers work in odd and mysterious ways, and basing a campaign or new product on what works in "testing" seems far less correct than judging it on actual viewing habits.
Testing works by essentially shoving groups of 12 people or so in remote cities in Wisconsin (or wherever represents a demographic mix) into a room and interviewing them, very very precisely. These people get a snack lunch and some money. Advertisers feel they get an accurate view of how the public will view a spot. I've seen plenty of commercials killed in testing (after all they money has been spent to make them) and it really pisses of the company and the ad agency.
They don't get mad at themselves, the usually get mad at the public. After all, all their previous research said this new potato chip would be huge...so it can't be their fault.
Tivo's ability to gather data on a individual and group level (like the whole zip code of that town in Wisconsin) is far faster than Nielsen ratings, more specific to an individual TV event like commercials or programming, and most likely useful to advertisers and programmers in general.
-Barkeep, a draft of your most hazardous brew, for the world is slowly stepping into focus, and I don't like what I see.
I don't see why we need TiVo. If we got standard broadcast and Internet formats for programming information, together with widespread production of these devices by electronics companies, costs would go down and privacy would end up being better.
I think I'll be opting out.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Interesting.... but if you can opt-out, how is this a "random sample". In reality, it's a self-selecting sample.... any other statisticians out there that are as sceptical about the results as I am?
Allan
(this post is as AC because I'm lazy)
I convinced everyone to come over to my house to watch the game this year because I had the DirecTV/Tivo combo and could back up cool ads and plays with ease. At 10pm, with 5 minutes of video buffered, the god damned thing stopped recording the game and switched over to record another show. As a result, we missed the Pat's dramatic march downfield and field goal. By the time I realized the error, we switched back to live TV and the confetti was falling.
Everyone was FUCKING PISSED OFF. This sort of thing happens all the time for sporting events. Before Tivo does ANYTHING else, they need some kind of software solution to record the enitrity of sporting events and go over their scheduled time. I should NOT have to explicitly tell it to record for an extra half hour or hour for every game that comes on.
--
Exactly!
If buying drugs makes you no better than a terrorist...
Then why doesn't resorting to blatantly false propaganda and scare tactics make you any better than a communist?
~GoRK