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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."
But it's not the holy grail for advertising agencies and media companies, which have built an industry around the idea of getting a shallow message to a broad audience rather than a tailored message to a narrower one,"
So, let's see... Companies/organizations who sit between the producer and consumer, have made up their own rules and flimsy business model and don't like it when times change and require the business model to change. Where have I heard this before? *cough*RIAA*cough*
I know this isn't the same thing, I just saw the similarity. Oh, and I didn't see in the article, were the better ads replayed? They were during the Super Bowl.
Reality TV, news, and "event" programming such as the Oscars do significantly better at getting viewers to see the commercials.
PLEASE tell me this doesn't mean more Reality TV shows!!! I can't handle it!!! They're replacing the somewhat-good shows that have survived so far.
+4 "funny!"
-2 "A feminine hygene product during the Superbowl is seriously OT!"
That's my (and probably others') big pet peeve about them. Oh, they could be less frequent too. There is such a thing called advertisement overload, as where the unsuspecting consumer is so irritated by the advertisement, as where they lose interest in the ad itself, and goes of to take a leak (or to do something else useful, like grabbing a beer or something). Of course, the product doesn't get seen when that happens.
But will "they" learn? Probably not.
The inverse relationship between rating and getting to show ads, and the variable stickiness, is no surprise at all if you watch what a Tivo user does. Here is what is happening, and it's so simple: Tivo gets to play the ad, if the user isn't paying attention. Tivo doesn't get to play ads, if the user is intently watching the show.
That's all there is to it. I play The Simpsons and it's some lame episode that I've already seen way too many times, so I get bored and surf Slashdot. Being a stupid monkey, I don't just stop The Simpsons and watch something else, because I like The Simpsons so I think I want to watch it. But nevertheless, since I've seen the episode too many times, I am bored. I just don't realize I'm bored. So I let the episode play. I'm not watching. A commercial break happens. I don't notice for a minute, because I'm in the midst of writing a troll that requires all my concentration. Then somewhere in the back of my head, I hear that someone is selling cars, and I wake up from my TrollTrance and look over at the TV outraged, screaming "Commercial!!! Kill! Kill! Kill!" and fast forward until I see The Simpsons again. Then I go back to writing my troll.
Now suppose I'm watching Futurama, and it's an episode that I somehow missed the first time around. I'm fascinated. Instead of making an ass of myself on the internet, I watch TV. I am paying attention and following along. When a commercial break happens, I automatically skip over it.
Back to the stats:
That's because 70% were actually watching the show while playing it. I've never seen it, but it sounds like it might be a good show; I should give it a try. The other 30% were bored and trolling Slashdot. That's because the bored Tivo user wasn't really watching the show. He's just using the TV to make reassuring background noise in his meaningless life. Tivo thinks he is "watching the ads" but really he is explaining to somebody, the finer points of pouring hot grits. The user is watching. The user is not watching.As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.