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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."
if the Ad companies that save/make money off of this technology paid for my monthly service fee.
Sure you skip all of them but the question is which ones do you rewind to watch. I have noticed that hot chicks tend to do the trick for me.:) And movies commericials. Of course movies are one of the few products out there where the commericials actually tell you something usefull about the product rather than trying to convince you that buying a product will make you a cooler person.
So, how can the ad executives determine if you're skipping the commercial because it sucks or because you've already seen it before?
In the UK theres a strange phenomenon in TV ad viewing, that is the "cup of Tea". On UK TV ad breaks tend to be longer and less frequent. UK dwellers also tend to drink alot of tea during the evening, and making a cup of tea takes about the same time as an ad break. For example during the half time break in the soap opera "Coronation Street" the load on the National Grid goes up something like double as 15 million viewers get off the couch and turn on their electric kettles.
So in essense this activity means that alot less viewers are actually present during the ad breaks than in the US when watching live TV. So what's the solution: Make ads that people actually want to see. British ads on the whole are funnier and more episodic than their US counterparts. I've never heard anyone in my time in the US talk about "The new ad for Coke" around the water cooler at work, but in the UK this regularly happens for the soft drink "Tango" for example.
So perhaps the answer is to make ads more entertaining, less repeated (why oh why show the same ad twice in an ad break), and less formulaic. If US ad agencies showed half the imagination that the UK ad agencies showed then people might actually be less tempted to skip over the ads or leave the room.
Does anyone know if there is a TiVo demographic?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
It's more likely that the decent shows will be sponsored instead of saturated with ads. Firefly, brought to you by Preparation H!
Seriously, good entertainment will always draw an audience and audiences will always draw advertisers. If broadband continues to get rolled out, we could see TVoIP with advertisers taking an international market campaign sponsoring programs on the net.
That's the beauty of capitalism. It eventually dethrones the most entrenched incumbents as they continue to foul up. You just can't predict how and when.
1. Ads I watch on purpose. These are very rare, and usually involve pretty girls in skimpy outfits. Humor can snare me too, but most advertisers are too clueless to do it right.
2. Ads I ignore. This is 90% of the TV ads. If I'm watching live I'll probably see/hear part of it while I go to the bathroom/kitchen/stick my nose in a book. Otherwise, I'll FF past it.
3. Ads I can't stand. Bad sound effects will piss me off everytime. If I'm watching delayed, I'll FF past it. If I'm watching live, I'll "mute" until the show resumes, then pause for 15 minutes to ensure I won't have to suffer through any more commercials! If I didn't have the option of FFing or muteing, I'd go bonkers, destroy the TV with an axe, then go after the advertiser!
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.