OpenTV Like TiVo on Steroids

Davis Freeberg writes "Davis Freeberg and Thomas Hawk recently interviewed OpenTV about some of the more progressive programming that they are offering to viewers outside of North America. Specifically, they have created a PVR that allows users to not only choose from 4 - 8 video angles, but even more importantly consumers can choose what audio feed they would prefer. Recently they miked up some drunk hooligans during a rugby match in Austrailia and cable customers could choose which commentator they prefered. Of course this functionality doesn't come without a cost. In exchange for interactive games, karaoke and multiple HDTV streams, they collect data on the viewing habits of their users and then digitally insert 30 second ads based upon the demographics of their customers. While I'm not sure if this is good or bad, I do believe that this will be the future of television advertising. While we haven't seen this type of a privacy policy introduced in the U.S. yet, I'm sure that the PVR industry has taken notice of the willingness of Aussies to give up privacy rights for the ability to time shift televison. "

Comments

I like the idea

[Medieval_Thinker]

This has potential, but I think the "open" in the name is a misnomer...

Go for it!

[ucahg]

I'm not opposed to personalized advertising. I don't see what the fuss is about really. Who cares if an advertising company has on record my TV viewing preferences?

Maybe it would stop me from receiving tampon and ED commercials.

No Problem

[kevin_conaway]

If I'm subscribing to their service, they already know what I'm watching because they're pushing it through the wire!

I see no harm in using that data to show ads that are relevant to the genre of programming I'm watching. To me, it seems better to advertise athletic gear and sports drinks during a football game than tampons and depends undergarments.

Context sensitive advertising seems to be the way to go as long as its not overly intrusive. They have a right to make money after all and if people aren't willing to pay with their dollars, then they'll have to pay with their eyeballs.

Re:No Problem

[alvinrod]

I see no harm in using that data to show ads that are relevant to the genre of programming I'm watching. To me, it seems better to advertise athletic gear and sports drinks during a football game than tampons and depends undergarments.

You probably won't be seeing too many advertisements for tampons, but once they figure out you're male based on your viewing habits, I can easily see every other commercial being for Girls Gone Wild like they used to on late night Comedy Central (haven't watched in a while, for all I know they still do it).

Additionally, who decides which demographic you fall into? If you decide that men aged x to y watch this programming and tailor the advertising to suit men aged x to y, what happens if it's a woman or someone not in that demographic?

Of course there will also be multiple users in some households. The Father might enjoy sporting events, the mother likes nature shows, one of the younger children watches cartoons, and one of the older children likes sitcoms. Given the mixture the thing decides that sports get watched the most so it plasters beer and girls gone wild ads while the 4 year old is watching cartoons.

Keep in mind that you're still completely at the whim of whatever the company gets paid to advertise. Of course you can always just switch the channle or go do something else while the commercials are on.

Re:No Problem

[droptone]

What is interesting in the privacy fears arguments is that they generally use some sort of slippery slope argument..."Well what if they use 'context-sensitive' pricing" yadda yadda yadda. I must say there is something intuitively enticing about such arguments, but from a logical point of view they are mush. There are REAL worries about privacy and people who are using these sorts of arguments are undermining the actual problems. Rather than resorting to flights of fancy about the possibilities of some evil corporation selling our precious data, we ought to be spending much more time analyzing the ACTUAL consequences of certain programs/policies/etc.

I find no problems with context-sensitive advertising. It helps the company target the consumer more specifically. It helps the consumer not be bothered with ads for things that they would never buy, e.g. a bachelor buying tampons. This could help weed out the incredible amount of trash that gets advertised these days, like those god-awful "this program does not guarantee you to get rich, but guess what? I DID!" commercials.

Of course other posters have brought up problems with this sort of advertisements, like getting bombarded with Girls Gone Wild ads on late night Comedy Central, but this sort of problem slowly fades into irrelevancy if the people creating these user profiles actually spend time forming relevant categories that do indeed divide the audience into useful segments. If figured out all 18-25 year old males do not like the same things and are not tempted into buying the same items, then they would suddenly become much more effective in their ad placement. While guys watching TechTV or SciFi may be lonely geeks, they also know how to use the interweb to solve their porn needs so Girls Gone Wild videos are pointless for them.

So the people complaining need to understand that these sorts of problems are not inherent in the system being set up, but the lazy creators/programmers/ad-executives that do not feel like putting in quality time to make a quality product.

Privacy or not, just don't buy the stuff advertise

[Antony-Kyre]

Privacy or not, just don't buy the stuff advertised. It's not like anyone is forcing you to buy anything, right?

And here's a thought. Do "they" have the right to discriminate their commercial advertisements based on the individual they are broadcasting to? Could that be unfair because someone else is getting different television programming than you are, yet you are paying for the same service?

Demographic collection

[bokmann]

I have no problem with a service colleting my demographic information, as long as I understand and agree on how they use it, without any bull crap like "Terms of service may change without notice".

Using my demographics to give me more ads for computers, sci-fi shows, and other things that match my interest is a better use of my time than commercials for Massingil's latest lemon-scented douche.

Using my demongraphic information to increase my car insurance rates, on the other hand, would not make me happy.

multiple angles?

[justforaday]

Just a question regarding the multiple angles thing. Is this really going to get used? I mean, DVDs have had this feature since day one. I've only ever seen one disc that actually used the feature, and it was some pr0n movie. And I gotta tell you, watching people shuffle around the background during the filming of a pr0n shoot, though funny, doesn't make for a better viewing experience. Let's also not forget about the increased production costs to do this for more, umm, legitimate shows/movies. Sports are about the only thing this is good for, both from viewer and production points of view (har har).

Re:Shift in television advertising

[dlefavor]

It will be interesting to see if a shift to product placement ousts these local businesses and we see more national companies bidding the price up on stadium billboards.

It's already happening in many stadiums. For example, if you ever go to a Cubs game at Wrigley field, You'll see a plain green panel on the wall behind and to the left (as seen from the pitcher's mound) of home plate. Very unobtrusive. If you watch the game on TV, though, that green panel shows up as billboard ads that change throughout the game. The ads are electronically superimposed.

There's nothing that prevents different ads for different markets being placed on those panels by the cable/satellite TV companies.

I expect that same technology will be employed on outfield walls, the boards at hockey games, end zones at football games, and even on the playing fields.

On a slightly different subject, ads can already be tailored to individual homes, and that tailoring is already being done. Market research firms work with advertisers and cable companies to plant different ads in different neighborhoods - but not individual households, although nothing prevents it - in order to test effectiveness of one ad over another. For example, one neighborhood might see one Frosted Flakes ad while another neighborhood might see a different one. Then sales of Frosted Flakes at each neighborhood's supermarkets are tracked and ad effectiveness is measured by looking at sales movements.

Re:Privacy or not, just don't buy the stuff advert

[LordNimon]

I heard about some meeting somewhere where a TV executive said that if people wanted ad-free TV, it would cost another $250/year. Then someone asked the audience who would pay another $250/year for ad-free TV, and at least half of them raised their hands.

Of course, the TV executives didn't get the hint.

flip it around

[adnausium]

What if we look at this from a different angle (uhh no pun intended there) In this scenario advertisements are being picked according to your viewing habits....what about being interested in a product that has nothing to do with your viewing habits? As much as everyone says they hate commercials, there are tons of products out there that if i hadnt seen some random commercial for it, i never would have sought it out on my own. I for one like commercials...i also like the ability to skip the ones that dont pertain to me...but id like to keep them random, not have them tailored to me, i might miss some great product or never here about some great service or business if the content provider doesnt think that i should see it...

Re:Need to know...

[FLEB]

Actually, I imagine someone could make "alternate commentary" like this, especially for movies, using streaming or downloadable Internet audio in sync with the television program. Sort of "Podcasting meets Dark Side of Oz". Sure, I realize that it's a flaky idea, but I imagine it could be developed.