TiVo Data Collection Ramifications

www.sharkdefense.com writes "Businessweek has an interesting article on a new TiVo technology which allows ad executives to see which ads are skipped on the DVRs. Thank goodness they still don't know if you went to the bathroom for a break or to the fridge. The article is an eye-opening read."

Comments

Skip commercials, go to jail

[Animats]

• "[Skipping commercials is] theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial . . . you're actually stealing the programming." -- Jamie Kellner, CEO Turner Broadcasting Div., AOL/Time/Warner.

From the plaintiff's filing in Paramount vs. SonicBlue:

• Defendants' unlawful scheme attacks the fundamental economic underpinnings of free television and basic nonbroadcast services and, hence, the means by which plaintiffs' copyrighted works are paid for. Advertisers will not pay to have their advertisements placed within television programming delivered to viewers when the advertisements will be invisible to those viewers. In effect, by eliminating the embedded advertising, defendants' copying-and-commercial-deletion feature will (as to those viewers who employ the feature) eliminate the source of payment to the copyright owner for the very program being viewed. As a result, defendants' unlawful scheme impairs the value of plaintiffs' works and reduces the incentive for their creation and dissemination. For subscription television program services that depend in part on advertising revenues, use of the AutoSkip feature has the same effect. In both cases, the AutoSkip feature would fundamentally and inevitably erode the means by which copyright owners are paid for their works and hence the value of the programming they create.

So there.

More popular shows still get more ads played

[rollingcalf]

"On April 11, 2002, ABC's popular TV drama The Practice drew a TiVo rating of 8.9, meaning 8.9% of TiVo owners watched the show live or recorded it and watched it later. But those viewers watched just 30% of the ads shown. Meanwhile, quiz show The Weakest Link, drew a rating of 0.9, but viewers watched 78% of the commercials. TV news magazine 60 Minutes got only a 2.2 rating, but its viewers sat through 73% of the ads."

Even though the percentage of ads skipped increases with the popularity of the show, the popular shows still get more ads played through overall.

With the 8.9 show above, 30% of that show's viewers played the ads, which means those ads were played through by 30% of 8.9% = 2.67% of viewers. With the 0.9 show, 78% of its viewers played the ads, and 78% of 0.9% = 0.702% overall. So the ads that air with the most popular shows still get the most eyeballs, despite the inverse relationship mentioned in the article.

Re:What for ?

[Lord_Dweomer]

"I've had a TiVo for three years now, and I don't skip all ads. First, some shows are compelling enough that I watch them live, and am forced to suffer through ads as a result. Second, ads for products that I'm actually interested in are worth watching, as are genuinely funny and creative ads (I love the Jack in the Box Chipotle Chicken Sandwich commercial). Not all advertising is evil."

Mod this up. There's a reason why AdCritic, the website that had a massive database of movieclips of commercials for free went under, and resurfaced as a subscription service. Its not because they weren't popular enough to make ends meet. Its because they were TOO popular, and couldn't afford the bandwidth/server space. People do want to see ads, just good creative ones.