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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.
which ads are skipped on the DVRs
All of them?
Thank goodness they still don't know if you went to the bathroom for a break or to the fridge.
I think the point that we all are missing is that we should be watching TV for the ads and taking our breaks during the filler (a.k.a. the actual show). At least, that's the way to be a good consumer.
Cat, the other, tastier white meat.
+4 "funny!"
-2 "A feminine hygene product during the Superbowl is seriously OT!"
Are they talking about Skinimax and the Playboy Channel?
As long as it's statistical it will tell advertisers a lot. As the article mentions, it's not something the broadcasters want to hear. But if advertisers knew the best time to show ads, maybe we wouldn't get tampon ads during dinner.
if the Ad companies that save/make money off of this technology paid for my monthly service fee.
Is there some way to flip the evil bit and make it seem like I watch nothing but commercials?
I really WISH the advertisers knew which ads I was skipping, and which ones make me rewind to see what exactly they were doing. There are some good ads out there that are hilarious - the first time I saw the "Stripperella" ads on TNN, for example, you'd better believe I backed the remote up. On the other hand, the guy with the polka-dotted suit needs to quit throwing his money away and get with the program....
What's your damage, Heather?
If it helps advertisers understand what ads people watch and why then you will get better ads. Better ads = more ads people will watch. More ads people will watch will result in higher quality ads, ones that might actually provide information that is useful to you or even somewhat entertaining.
This has to be better than the endless flood of mindless ads they shove at us now. As long as the information is only used in the aggregate, I see only positives from this.
Freedom Is Universal
Linux-Universe
So, how can the ad executives determine if you're skipping the commercial because it sucks or because you've already seen it before?
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.
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?
No, what it DOES mean though, is that they will start using the bottom of the screen for ads while your favorite program is running. That way, you have no choice but to watch. I mean, networks already do this for their own ads so it's just a matter of time before you are watching South Park with a Coke can in the bottom right corner for 1/2 hour.
You'll have that sometimes...
As many have pointed out.. what's important is not what ads are getting skipped, but why they are.
Here are a few things they have done wrong, that really piss off viewers:
1. Volume. The add should be no louder than the rest of the broadcast material. This should be a standard among all stations - if my tv is set at a specific volume, I should be able to go to any channel at any time and have it be *exactly* the same volume.
2. Timing of product. Tampon/pad commercials during dinner or sport events are probably not very well planned. Similarly, I've seen car/realestate commercials on during saturday morning cartoons...
3. Repeating ad. Ever watch a 30 minute show and see the *same* commercial 4 times (once before, twice during, once after). Or even 2 different commercials for the same product back to back? That gets annoying, and you blank it out.
4. Portrays customer as idiot. This may just be a pet peeve of mine, but it seems to be a fad now in advertising to portray customers as mindless automotons who just consume whatever you give them. For example, the guy in Best Buy staring mindlessly at the new TV, and the salesguy saying "dude, you need these speakers too."
Personally, I am amazed advertising has worked this far at all. We saw how HORRIBLY it failed at supporting websites. What if this (counting ad skips) is effectually the same as counting the lack of clicks on a banner? will advertising firms start to lose money, stop paying content providers for space, causing them to lose money?
no comment
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.
The article discusses how some live events and reality television have a larger percentage of watched ads. I would guess that would be because most people watch those shows when they're actually being broadcast, as opposed to watching them later. It would be more interesting to see statistics of what % of the commercials are watched when it was watched live versus what % people are watching when watching it previously recorded.
For the live/reality events, those are conversation pieces for some people at work the next day (*gasp* Did you see who the Bachelor picked?). I'd bet that those programs are watched live more, and therefore people are unable to skip the commercials.
It's more likely that the decent shows will be sponsored instead of saturated with ads. Firefly, brought to you by Preparation H!
When I read this, the idea of firefly presented by a hemmeroids ointment was so ridiculous, it made me laugh. But not, I realized, much more than regular product placement.
Advertising agencies have still got it all wrong. Why doesn't one of the characters on Friends, for instance, have a thing for coke? I know enough people in the real world who are adamantly "addicted" to certain brands and foods that it wouln't even stretch the imagination to see a TV character with that trait.
But instead they do horribly klutzy things like "the doritos picnic" on the original survivor, or the painfully akward Coke placement on American Idol. It's actually disarmingly honest; "hey look, we're a show you like and we're pushing a product, don't you want to BUY it??"
No. No we don't. We're over advertising as a social contract, where we tolerate it with the abiding satisfaction of receiving the accompanying content as a "reward." We no longer feel any obligation to this system. Advertising dollars spent on that very mechanism are terribly wasted, even if it works sometimes. Better to assign the desired buy-craziness to a TV character we can empathize with and desire to emulate. At least this will catch us off guard for a couple of years.
Man 1: Hey, Joe, do you ever have problems with an itcy asshole? ... Just gotta make sure you get a thorough coat on...
Man 2: Well I used to, then my friends turned me on to Preparation H!
Man 1: Really? How's that work?
Man 2: Well lemme just slap a little on for you there, skippy...
Man 1: Oooh.. Oh...
Man 2
Man 1: Hey... that IS better!
Voiceover: Preparation H, for all your itchy asshole needs.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
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.