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Tivo Plans Commercials On Demand
MCSqrd writes "News.com reports that Tivo will soon feature interactive ads that apparently link from ordinary television commercials. Viewers can activate the link and view extended, interactive content about the product being advertised.
Tivo hopes to 'tune in' to a way to keep advertisers on their side since the idea of TV commercials being made obsolete because of PVRs has made them an enemy to marketing departments everywhere.
Is anyone else reminded of the blipverts from the Max Headroom series?"
This is not a new TiVo feature, it's an underused one at this point. There are a few car company ads that are presently use it.
The way it works is that the sponsors purchase a TiVo Showcase package, which is an advertising section that has always been part of TiVo. The Showcases can be filled with video content that is spliced out of the "Teleworld Infomercial"... a quasi-weekly program that TiVo purchases during the early morning hours on the Discovery Channel that all TiVos are programmed to return.
The sponsors then purchase a typical campaign's worth standard 30-second TV spots, and they encode in the VBI (the same place where Closed Captioning hides) a signals that all TiVos understand. This signal tells the TiVo that whenever this spot is encountered, to display a "Press Thumbs Up For More Information" icon while it is playing. If the user gives the confirming thumbs up signal on their remote, they're transported directly to the Showcase section for that sponsor. Whenever the user chooses to leave the Showcase, they'll be returned to exactly where they were in whatever program they were viewing.
You might be surprised to know that TiVo is recording this Teleworld Infomercial program, because it's never directly displayed in the user interface. You also might think that TiVo is kidnapping some of your diskspace... but in fact they're saving the ad content to the "reserved section" of TiVo's funky Linux-based OS. You never had access to that disk volume, and they already subtracted this space from the advertised hour-wise capacity of a unit. If you upgrade your TiVo's HD size, all of the additional space created goes to user recordings, the reserved space stays the same size.
Gotta give TiVo credit, they're finding a revenue model that actually issues a challenge to advertisers... come up with some ad content that makes people want to watch it.
Advertisers can put ads on websites and if a user is attracted and interested in the product, they can click the banner and learn more about the product.
The system doesn't work.
I have been pwned because my
Why would you link from commercials that nobody watches if they have a TiVo anyways?
Now if only Tivo got some google sense and tied their ads into keywords (which could be easily fetched on most channels supporting captions).
Googled has proven that targeted ads work, why not try it in Tivo.
Is anyone else reminded of the blipverts from the Max Headroom series?"
No, because this is the inverse of a blipvert. A blipvert was a split-second commerical inserted into Network XXIII programs, which had the unfortunate side effect of causing overweight viewers to explode.
This feature actually requires user input (a confirming click of the green Thumbs Up key during the conventional 30-second ad) in order to jump to a 3-minute presentation that has been stored on the TiVo harddrive. The user can bail out of the 3-minute presentation at any time and return to their "live" stream whenever they want. TiVo will do the favor of pausing the program at exactly the point they left it, where the user can fast-forward to catch up as much as they want.
They already did this, I believe, at least once last year. When a certain car commercial came on (can't remember which one.. maybe M.B. or V.W.) it went to an extended commercial if you wanted by hitting the thumbs up button. Not much to talk about really... the tivo is set up to save messages and commercials from the air at 3:00am on scheduled days.
There are other types of commercials too... for instance right now there are a couple of previews for Dawn of the Dead. They are just extending this out to more non-entertainment products too. You don't have to watch them if you don't want to.
Why don't you embrace your slashbotness instead of living in a dreamworld?
Thats actually not too bad of an idea. I know lots of times I'll be watching TV, see something interesting, and then head over to the computer to find out more about it. What would be really cool, if we could pick what type of commercials we want to view. God knows I don't need to see that damn tampax sinking boat commercial one more time! Not a crazy idea, think how well sites like adcritic.com did.
I have a feeling this will be a popular feature with the "Girls Gone Wild" commercials.
Imagine this:
Instead of 30 second commercials you fast forward through, all the commercials were on your Tivo as well. and tivo only recorded commercials for products that you liked (tivo commercial suggestions). That way, you don't HAVE to watch a commercial to watch a show... but Tivo makes money (and stays in business) so that I can continue to get their service while not getting commericals.... I like this a LOT
And if Tivo can make a little money from the Ad firms without impacting my viewing habits , then so be it.
The only problem I might have with it is if my Tivo had the wrong idea of what I liked and didn't like. What a horrible time I might have if my Tivo recorded only ads for feminine hygiene products....
I believe that before long, the TV ad model will shift radically (for that medium anyway). Just as ads are "integrated" into newspaper and magazine content (sharing the page), web content and even the landscape, ads on TV will soon appear along with the content.
The reason this shared model works in those other mediums is simple: people will not volunteer to read ads in any meaningful way. Ads in a "volunteer" model are only viewed by people already interested in or involved with the subject. Ads currently also serve the far broader and more valuable (to advertisers anyway) function of exposing poeple to "new" things. in life, as in target marketing, the things we covet the most are often the most elusive. A lot of the people who will want to see an ad for some boring car are probably people who already bought one and are reveling in post-purchase reinforcement behavior. The guy who likes his current boring car breezes past the ad.
Soon, when you are watching that Seinfeld re-run on your wide screen HiDef TV, you'll see that the content is really the same size and there's an advertising sidebar touting Craftsman (TM) Tools or Noxema or whatever.
Currently, it appears that the loose boundry is at network self-promos ("watch such and such on Friday" stuff in the lower third), but some day soon, we'll see a little animated Lexus cruise across the bottom of the screen during "The Apprentice." Look at the Discovery Channel now--they're champing at the bit for this.
"...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
I think where Tivo will make the most headway will be with smaller cable networks. The problem is, there aren't very many of them left. Why do I say this? The major networks (all of whom either own major cable channels or have major investments in cable providers) are wholly against Tivo poaching "their" ad dollars. Their attitude is that if they're going to allow Tivo to put up adverts (and they need to pass some sort of signal to provide this capability) then they want a cut of the action.
The only way around this is for Tivo to go court the little guys, and thus force the incumbents to follow their lead, or lose ad dollars. I imagine the advertisers are curious to try this feature - the only question is, will they get the chance?
Another revenue source that Tivo really ought to be persuing is movies-on-demand. They should try streaming data in much the same way Disney's Moviebeam does, only over broadband connections (for those who have it.) Thus, for the marginal cost of a "premium" subscription, users can also order the latest movies. I don't think that many people would end up keeping this movie-on-demand service, but it'd be a great lure for people to sign up for Tivo service in general, and for them to keep the basic scheduling service.
Though a lot of people like to complain about the "yellow star" ads, I have found several of them quite useful. Even the direct promotions. A good example: There is a TiVo PVR that will burn directly to DVD. For a couple of weeks they had a yellow star ad that included 4 minute and 1 minute walkthroughs about the features and benefits of the unit. Pretty standard. But there was a third link which requested product literature. I liked the product, so I requested the lit. Got it a week later, read through it, and made a purchase decision.
It's horribly efficient. No "type in this 30-character URL", no "type in all your mailing info here", just push select and voila. This isn't the first time I've done it... TiVo offered a promotional DVD to give to your friends to tell them about TiVo. They made it available online, and via yellow star. Clicked, got the DVD. No hassles. No typing. Easy. And even after opting in (you can opt in, neutral, or out) to data collection in my personal preferences, I receive no junk mail or spam whatsoever from these companies. I get what I ask for, and nothing else.
This could be a phenomenal money maker for TiVo if done right. If I'm interested in your product, and you make information gathering as easy as pushing the "Thumbs Up" while watching the commercial (ala TiVoMatic icon), I guarantee I watch your 3- or 4-minute promotional video. Everyone wins. It helps the sponsor promote their product, and it does so without pissing off the end-user, because they request the video, they're not force fed. Now it becomes a convenience instead of an annoyance.
I hope the rest of the marketing world takes a good hard look at this business model... make your information easily accessible, don't beat your target audience over the head with it.
because... (drumroll)... there were no commercials.
A technology attempting to defeat commercials wants to have commercials. How unpredictable.
Helen: "I'm so apalled, have you seen the latest Alexortus advertisement?"
Nancy: "Yes, simply shocking, watch this part, wait I'll slow-mo it, you can see yis penis!"
And they'll replay it til its worn out...and I'll leave it to the readers imagination what transpired in the meantime.
-cp-
President Bush to Liberate Alaska
I gave TiVo a suggestion when I first got my TiVo and heard all of the "TiVo will die" comments everywhere. My suggestion was that TiVo should allow the thumbing of commercials. Then they could sell that information to advertisers so they'd know what commercials that people thought were good.
This would allow me to let Quizno's know that I can't stand there singing hair balls.
More like the 50s style news pieces / commercials spliced into Starship Troopers (the movie not the book which are two completely different stories):
"Would you like to learn more?"
"You saved 1968." - Ms. Valerie Pringle to the crew of Apollo 8
No, but I am reminded of the "Want more?" hyperlink which appeared on the futuristic televisions in Starship Troopers.
Damn... Now I am also reminded of Denise Richards in Spandex.
Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
One of the best ones I saw was for the Nissan 350Z. In the Showcase it said to press 'select' and they'd mail me a DVD of the Z racing around Prague. Sure enough, a bit later a DVD showed up at my door after simply pressing a button on my remote.
Now that's a powerful car commercial.
tbdean
First off, it's already been mentioned but I'll say it again - the technology has been in use for a while. I can remember the first time I took advantage of this and watched a whole half hour segment on the Chrysler Crossfire.
The point I really wanted to make though is that a service like Tivo has the ability to change how commercials are delivered and viewed. I'll admin I enjoy watching *some* commercials. If I can watch targeted ads about things I'm interested in (technology, home improvement, food/wine) or could look actually pick commercials in a season-pass sort of way to find truly unique ones (like the Rube-Golberg inspired 'Cog' commercial from Honda) I'd surf commercials out of curiosity. I think the advertising industry could start making stars out of ad directors/designers/producers much like people follow certain individuals who create the shows we watch. Maybe it seems a bit far out, but Tivo has the technology to deliver the next generation of advertising.
--"I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." -- Benjamin Franklin
The key thing is it has to be done intelligently. Present the spiel, then let the end user wander through information about the product. Eg: car adverts: things like torque, horsepower, fuel economy, safety features, etc. Let the user feel like he's in control, not the advertiser. I'm sure that adverts of that nature would be of greater use to the end user than adverts saying "But wait! There's more! If you buy now, you get this FREE SET OF STEAK KNIVES!"
> Is anyone else reminded of the blipverts from the Max Headroom series?
no, but it seems to me that Max Headroom was interesting because it was simply something different to look at. unfortunately, at this point in the flow of time, old school TV commercials aren't so interesting anymore.
what Tivo needs to do is promote some sort of development of interactive software that the viewer will *want* to mess around with. that way, Tivo could keep the viewer engaged while waiting for something less interactive to come along, like the next feed of some pr0n.
of course, I'm talking about a game that's fun to play and has Pepsi splattered all over it. Pepsi gets advertized, producers of old school commercials move to a new industry, Tivo gets its viable business model of commercials on demand, and geeks get paid.
what am I missing?
...so I bet they're going to measure the success of these commercials based on the click-through ratio? Goodness knows that worked for web ads, right? Right?
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I'm pretty sure I'm seeing the last days of television (as I knew it and literally) when I see this stuff, because all it does it annoy the hell out of me.
I would so much rather have product placement (like a Ford car chase in a recent Alias), than the crappy 'splash screens' that are pushing shows that I will never watch. Ever.
BTW, Ford seems to be everywhere these days. Tivo had a clip on the GT 40, couple of minutes and kinda cool. On American Idol (don't get me started, I'm a musician and married - guess what won?), there was a 'video' that was the most blatant product placement I've ever seen. It was a 2 plus minute Ford commercial that made me not want a Ford and hate all on the screen, because it was so obvious 'THIS IS WHAT WE ARE SELLING'.
I can appreciate advertising. I deal with marketing my company -- I know that eyeballs count. But, (and I don't need a 4 year worthless degree to know this) the first rule is 'Do no harm.' Just like a doctor, but for your product's image.
Give me something new, and something that doesn't insult my intelligence (or lack thereof), don't play it into the ground (do you want to hear Freebird, Stairway or American Pie again?) and I may consider your product. At least I won't add it to the brain 'Hate File' and refuse to buy it for my irrational dislike of your marketing. People are irrational (that's also the first rule. See?)
And seriously, the all-obscuring splash screens will insure that I will: Be pissed off at whatever you're pushing, Be pissed off at your station/channel/advertiser, and look for my show(s) on the web (bye ad dollars), DVD (see you sponsors) or give it up for good (Oh NO!).
Sleep on it. And Ford? Way to get me to complement and complain about you on Slashdot. Well played, sir. I'm still not buying an Escort.
Is this not like the "red button" programmes and adverts on Sky Digital?
A red circle appears at the top of the screen and if you want to know more, hit red and it takes you into a whole "interactive" section?
Maybe with a system like this in place, advertisers will finally air all the cool commercials seen online and overseas. That Honda "Cogs" advert was the coolest thing never seen on US television. Tivo is providing an outlet for advertisers to show extended ads like that from Honda. This also gives opportunity to showcase great storymercials, like Reebok's Terry Tate. The "skip commercials" argument is bogus - most people buy a Tivo to replace the VCR. Ask most people why they actually watch the entire Super Bowl every year - its the adverts. So there IS a big viewer market for good advertising.
I have a TiVo 1 I just need to fix the modem at some point. But when it was working I actually watched more Commercials then I have done before. On Normal TV when there is a commercial I naturally tune out and focus on something other then TV. But with the TiVo I now focus on Fast forwarding threw commercials, so my eyes are on every commercial moving past me at 4x speed, seeing every logo, and if something in the commercial was truly eye catching I stopped rewind and watched it again, normal. When I had the TiVo I was far more consumer savvy then I am now with disabled TiVo.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.