Targeted Advertising Using Digital Set-Top Boxes

Moonshine writes: "Interesting story at TVTechnology regarding targeted advertising using new techology. Seems like all set-top boxes have a unique ID and they can send a code to any given one to change the channel for the period of the targeted ad and the viewer is none the wiser. What about privacy...well: Invidi says its system is designed to assure privacy. 'The system never knows what the viewer is watching since the headend never knows specifics about what the set-top box is doing,' said Anderson. 'And we never associate the set-top box address with a physical home address.'"

Comments

story sounds like something out of wired magazine

[StandardDeviant]

Consumers to Adopt HyperMedia Content Via Broadband-Capable Digital Set-Top Boxes
WiReD HyperMediaDigitalConvergenceSetTopShinyBitz Correspondent N. O. Klue

Disney studios released today the first version of their newly enhanced HyperMedia set-top box with broadband download capabilities and integrated "minimally invasive" Digital Rights Management and custom advertisement software. Estimated street prices was your firstborn child or your freedom to think for yourself. The newest boy band (as of 12:53pm PST), Sen. Hollings and The Brown-nosers, was on hand for the release.

EFF spokesman quoted as saying "Yeah, it's really shiny. I wonder what the privacy concerns are? Down with the man!" A wild-eyed and very smelly hobo we pulled from the dumpster outside our offices here in SanFran was quoted as saying "As a content developer I love the potential for rich user experiences conveyed in a simple manner by a plug-and-play set top box that enables the Middle America idiots to finally see what all this HyperMedia business is about. Of course, then we're going to get requests for the 5am farm report in HyperMedia format." The hobo then threw up on our shoes, as reproduced in the sidebar graphic in stunning print-based, laptop-oriented paper HyperMedia graphics.

We managed to track down an entertainment industry executive to get an industry insider's viewpoint, at San Quentin State Penitentiary. He was quoted as saying that "...[T]his product will enable a new future of one-to-one digital HyperMedia advertising. My ass hurts." The executive then got into a knife fight over whose bitch he was and died.

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Sorry, that's just the reaction I have whenever somebody starts going off about rich media and set top boxes. Please mentally read this post as if it were in silver text on an orange background with high-gloss paper.

People that want rich content or digital convergence (maybe one person in a thousand) have computers. The vast majority of the public really has no interest in anything more complex than what is already on TV (the new opiate for the masses). This is why products that are aimed at the niche inbetween full computer users and Joe Sixpack always fail, the market for people that are interested but not computer customers is just too small. So nix selling this thing as an add on. Is the value of the marketing feature enough to offset the cost of just giving away the STBs? Becuase for 99+% of television viewers, the analog broadcasts they use for the news and sports and their soap operas is enough, leaving them with essentially zero incentive to switch.

I mean really, interactive TV, video on demand, digital set-top boxes. All of these are a festering mass of hype, void of any real utility or success in the marketplace. This has been pretty evident since the early-to-mid 90s. When are we going to learn?

Privacy and ads and Tivo, oh my.

[Powercntrl]

Waaaay back when Tivo was first introduced on the market, a friend and I were talking about the fact that it had a subscription fee. My take on this was...

I wouldn't mind anonymous statistics being collected about my viewing habits. If the company running the service didn't require any form of registration other than maybe some basic demographic info like my age, income, gender and geographic region. Once a company has my name/address/credit card number/phone number, etc, I don't want them collecting ANY information about what I watch or what kind of products I'm interested in, sorry. Since the Tivo was subscription-based, it didn't meet my criteria in this department.

An intelligent time-shifting capable set-top box COULD record commercials based upon your interests and play them during the "commercial break" of a show instead of the original non-targeted ads. This is something I'd actually like. I build my own computers, I don't need to see any Dell commercials. I am not female, I don't need to see commercials for home pregnacy tests. I don't drink beer. Etc, etc. There's a new show coming out that's like Junkyard Wars? Albertsons (it's a grocery store here in the south) is having a sale on Snapple? Those are commercials I want to see.

Even the Tivo's concept of "thumbs up/thumbs down" could be used on commercials... If it's a product or service I'm interested in, I can let the box know that's the type of commercials I'd rather see more of. While I know most people would rather have NO commercials, I consider ones that are at least relevent to what I'm interested in to be a reasonable compromise, especially if it gets me a TV timeshifting box subscription-free. And hey, it even benefits the advertisers since I'd be more likely to buy things that interest me... Everybody wins.

If I'm getting ads anyway they may as well be good

[Primordiax]

This really is not something that bothers me as long as it does not mean *MORE* ads (which I would imagine is impossible since to do so they'd have to cut out portions of the shows and that would be really damn obvious).

If I have to see ads anyway, I would rather they be ads I might be interested in rather than useless crap.

I would much rather see car ads, computer game ads, ads about local events, specials at Giant or Safeway than see some useless crap like douche ads, tampon ads, that piece of shit Dell Dude (god he sucks), etc.

Aggregate data is available, personal in 2070

[coyote-san]

That's a false statement, at least the way it's presented here.

The aggregate census data is available - that's things like the median family size, ages and income within some small area. (by ZIP code?) It gives you a good feel for the neighborhood, but tells you nothing about the individuals.

The personal data isn't released for something like 70 years, so the details of the 2000 census won't be available until 2070. That's the release that would worry people, but in 70 years most of us will be dead.