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Tivo To Also Offer Ads Your Way
FangVT writes "InfoWorld is reporting that in mid-2006 Tivo will begin allowing subscribers use keyword searches to look for information on specific products or services. The article does not contain much information but ultimately says 'Throwing in lots of hedge words to soften the idea of advertising once again mingling with TV content, TiVo described the service as non-intrusive, relevant, interactive advertising on an opt-in basis.' Tivo's own press release says, 'For the first time, advertisers will have the ability to deliver television advertising, on demand and targeted to consumers, without the limitations of traditional television media placement.'"
Great my Tivo gets another "feature".
I like my Tivo the way it is now. Does anyone know if there is a way to not get any more software updates from the Tivo service?
'Silence is Golden, but Duct tape is Silver' - Stolen sig.
"Tempt not a desperate man" - Willy S.
Maybe I'm missing something but isn't the whole purpose of Tivo to allow people to skip ads on tv? What would make someone who subscribes to such a service want to search for ads? Wouldn't it just be easier and cheaper to not subscribe to Tivo and use a vcr to record shows?
As I said in a reply to a posting yesterday I don't watch commercials or listen to adverstisements. Anywhere at any time. When a show goes to commercial I'll either go to another channel or if nothing else is on hit the mute button, walk away and go do something else for 2+ minutes. I fast forward through commercials on recorded shows. I turn the volume down when there are commercials on the radio. I don't even see billboards on the road anymore my mind has blocked them out.
If I'm going out of my way to avoid advertisements and commercials what would make these folks think I would want to search for commercials?
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Here's a thought: why doesn't TiVo offer a shopping service? For example, a point-and-click amazon-esque online store. TiVo takes a lucrative cut of the take and we can consume without having to leave the couch.
Another very important reason I love my TiVo is: TO SAVE TIME.
Watching ads, of any kind, does not further that goal.
Not only can I can watch Queer Eye at my convenience, but equally importantly, in only 37 minutes.
Towards this end, may I suggest a new TiVo feature: The ability to play back a program at a higher speed, with the audio pitch remaining unchanged. Hey, Kaffeine (in KDE) does it for me all the time, which I find very useful when watching non-pr0n, such as a physics lecture where the speaker talks v e r y - s l o w l y.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
3) TiVo built the entire model of PVR around the ability to skip ads and record shows more simply than on a VCR. They could do serious damage to their brand image if they embrace advertising after professing to help people avoid it.
They could even more serious damage if they incurred the anger of *AAs by openly attacking the ad based model of TV as you are doing now. I don't think they built the PVR around the ability to skip ads. It was built around the ability to time shift and learn your preferences and automatically record them. Hell, TiVo's big patent (as I understand it) is on the whole thumbs up/down thing. The skipping ads part is a wink and a nudge rather then an advertised ability though. Especially the 30 second skip easter egg.
Mind you, I'm not saying that I didn't buy a TiVo to skip ads. Just that I can appreciate the tight rope they have to walk. If an opt-in service can make them more money AND give the *AAs the impression that they aren't anti-advertisement, then what's the problem?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Everyone I know that has a TiVO bought it for one reason: time shifting. The ability skip ads is a nice to have, but not a have to have. The ability to watch a show when I have time to instead of having to choose between watching it when it is on or not watching it at all is why I bought a tivo.
I don't get people who seem to find advertising on television and in magazines to be morally reprehensible and an affront to their constitutional rights.
this is getting old and so are you
blog
I own a Tivo, and like many of you say, I really enjoy skipping the adds. Being able to watch a 30-min show in 23 minutes is a great timesaver, but it does have some downsides. I miss several jokes around the office, because they start with "Oh man, have you seen the new FooCorp add?" I have a very poor idea of what movies are coming out, because I don't see any of the trailers on TV. So, I can see several uses for this service. I'd love to be able to tell my Tivo: "Show me all the movie trailers for movies coming out Friday." Or something similar. I've thought for a while that PVRs should allow ad recording and ad sharing. You know that there are lots of people who would send that really funny ad to all their friends, and it would get the advertiser's off your back a bit. They usually have a set of ads they're featuring on the main page as well. You have to deliberatley select to watch them, but often I do. For LOTR they had behind the scenes interviews and several extended trailers. Ditto for most any other geek-friendly movie. They also showcased the BMW films when those were running. This new system just sounds like a beefed-up version of that, which is no bad thing.
Sure, most commercials are annoying and deserve to be skipped, but some are actually entertaining, interesting, and (rarely) even informative. Can't say I see a problem with providing me another way to get information, as long as it's opt-in.
Now, if I could push thumbs up (or thumbs down!) on an ad, this could be used to notify the advertiser of my thumbs up/down.
Even better, if I press thumbs up/down on an ad, TiVo should display a menu of options, such as...
(For thumbs up)...
- I would like my TiVo to download more information about your product and send me a message when the info is available
- I liked your ad
- I like your product
- I would like TiVo to send you all of my personal information and give you unlimited permission to charge my account and send me your products
(For thumbs down)...In the end, this is good for me. Advertisers may be encouraged to run good ads, or at least entertaining ones. Advertisers get feedback about their ads, product, and/or company -- or at least my perception of these.
TiVo and advertisers have an opportunity here. It is easy for me the viewer, I can just Thumbs Up/Down on a commercial. Select from a menu.
It is the ultimate opt-in. If I choose not to participate, I do nothing, and nothing changes about how I benefit from using my TiVo.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
I agree that the implementation of the ad concept has sucked. I've always thought it would be interesting to start a cable TV channel that played nothing but ads - but GOOD ads, the ones where people don't change the channel when they come on. We can all think of interesting and cool ads that we have seen and liked. There are plenty of ads that people download because they thought they were neat. Get a few editors to pick the winner ads and your advertisers would give you all the content you would ever need. And they would pay you for it. You could throw in retro ads and stuff as specials to attract veiwers.
In addition, if they were not played over and over again, but rather interspersed with different ads, people would not get sick of them like they do with regular ads. Everyone gets sick of watching the same ad 10 times during the same show. Sure, advertisers like it when there is repetition, but if they are driving watchers away, shouldn't they have to pay for that? Instead, offer them this option, where placing your ad is much cheaper than between episodes of Law and Order or Survivor, but the ads are placed in such a way that viewers don't hate it.
If QVC works, so would this. In addition, if this were highly successful, it might help change the ad industry's view of the best way to do things.