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Will TiVo Destroy Ad-Supported TV?

Posted by timothy on from the will-ads-destroy-tivo dept.

windowpain writes "According to a column in Television Week, the increasing popularity of digital video recorders will actually cause a decline in ad revenues in the next few years. 'The rollout of DVR-type technology ... will reach critical mass with 11 percent penetration of U.S. television households by 2005 and 15 percent by 2006...As a result, five-year earnings growth for TV station groups could fall from as much as 10 percent to as low as 4 percent.' Why? DVR users skip at least two-thirds of commercials and the 'collective impact represents a threat to revenue and cash flow growth that cannot be offset ... Fifteen percent DVR penetration implies that 9.1 percent of all ads would not be watched and that advertisers would be overpaying by 9.1 percent, or $6.6 billion as calculated from projected 2006 total ad revenues of $72 billion.' And another business model goes down in flames."

8 of 943 comments (clear)

  1. Ironically by ObviousGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I find that skipping the programs to get to the commercials to be more interesting than the other way around.

    --
    I have been pwned because my /. password was too easy to guess.
  2. Will TiVo Destroy Ad-Supported TV? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh God, I hope so.

  3. Re:Is this a good thing? by Wanderer2 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Hurra for reality; You can leave the room and get a snack and there is no fscking thing they can do about it!

    "Open the living room door, HAL."

    "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

    --
    I say we take-off and slashdot the site from orbit... it's the only way to be sure
  4. Re:The only TV i watch is in DVD form. by malignatus · · Score: 5, Funny

    I ussally just rent the first season on DVD, if it's good, me and my girlfriend rent the next, and so on.

    That's exactly what I do, except I "borrow" them from a friends I suddenly met over the Internet.

  5. Re:I don't get it? by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 5, Funny
    It's called changing the channel until the commercial is over!

    Don't you know that you're essentially stealing that programming by not watching the commercials? Just like copyright infringement is theft, so is skipping commercials. See, in our new enlightened society dominated by our mass-media overlords, anything that fails to generate revenue for them is called theft.

  6. Re:What, like movies? by CAIMLAS · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's because the HIV ad likely wasn't portrayed in a positive manner. You'd be considering, though, if it was introduced in this fashion:

    Viciously hot babe in a bikini runs/bounces onto an all-white screen in slow motion

    Hot babe: Hi, my name's Bambi. I've got HIV. Do you know how I got it?

    Bambi pauses

    Bambi: I had mad hot animal sex with an ordinary, greasy geek, just like you, and he gave it to me. *giggle*

    Bambi bounces off the screen

    fade to black

    white lettering appears on the screen:

    HIV: Find A Hot Model and Let Her Give It To You

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    ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
  7. Re:Nope by bjpirt · · Score: 5, Funny

    (CBS) Moses Miniseries - Moses comes down the mountain holding a PocketPC 2003 PDA with 10 Commandments, then uses OnStar GPS navigation system to get directions out of the desert.


    Surely it would be a tablet pc
  8. Re:What, like movies? by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 5, Funny

    Come on, whenever I want to hack an alien race's navigation, command, & control systems I use the same Mac that I used to hack a Gibson from a pay phone.

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    -PainKilleR-[CE]