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TiVo from AdZapper to Advertiser's New Best Friend
Thomas Hawk writes "A lot of noise has been made lately regarding TiVo's transformation from an ad zapper to Madison Avenue's new darling. In their first podcast ever, TiVo explains how they hope to redefine advertising in the age of the DVR through a customer centered approach. I'm not sure you are going to see TiVo changing their slogan to "we'll leave a light on for you," anytime soon, but with DVR penetration hitting mainstream how will their new initiatives change your TV viewing experience?"
I am one of the broadband-connected Tivo owners and counter to Tivo's Kent's thesis, I don't prefer to watch the long ads Tivo stocks. I long ago abandoned those as mostly uninteresting and targetless (i.e., of ten video ads, rarely would even one be close to interesting for me).
An interesting note in the article: TiVo owners tend to fast forward about 70% of the ads when viewing pre-recorded content. That's about right in my experience, but why?
I use the 30 second skip, and it helps get past the real annoyances in a show, which is usually the commercials. But I've found that there are some well done commercials and those are the 30% that I watch. If they're not insultingly stupid, and are cleverly written (not hard to do -- spring for the writers), I watch. Some I watch every time I see them (Caveman FedEx commercial anybody?).
I think Tivo and others may be missing something here, people watching TV do appreciate a "breather" every once in a while, and if the commercial breaks are filled with quality pseudo entertainment, people will watch it. And vendors will get market share.
If Tivo and others really wanted to get ahead of the curve I'd suggest targeted commercial breaks, i.e., instead of the broad spectrum network advertising during commercial breaks, overlay them with targeted and well-crafted shorts designed to catch the eye of that tivo's owner tastes. I think this is easily done, and would bet the 70% "skip" factor for commercial breaks would drop significantly. I don't mind targeted advertising, it can still be annoying but it's more likely to show me something I can use and would be interested in buying.
On the other hand, the notion of interactivity in the TV landscape so far has consistently been beat down as intrusive and annoying to TV viewers. I have seen all of the extra features Tivo has added (mostly third party) in the last couple of years, and they're mostly fluff, add little value, and some of the harder sell "features" are downright annoying. I'd be interested to see the usage metrics for these new "interactive" improvements.
I still think when people settle in to watch TV, they're there to watch, not participate.
This is why I own a Replay DVR...
You mean to say they want to profit even more? No way!
if you want to watch something "live" the you have to see them anyway. I would think this is how most people with tivo use their TVs; with tivo just as a video-recorder if there is 2 things on at the same time which they want to watch or if they are going to be out... it might seem like a lot of people will never see ads but I would bet that they do
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
Lets get it out in the open: Tivo's original business model is/was shiat.
They're migrating to advertising $$$ to prop things up.
You'd think Tivo wouldn't be so desperate since they got that big deal with Comcast(?).
It's a shame where Tivo has headed.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
From TFA (on the subject of ffwding through ads):
the average TiVo household makes "something like" 357 clicks per day. With 4.4 million households, this works out to be over a half a billion clicks every single year. No wonder my fast forward button wore off on my remote
So what happened to my pause button?.. uh... nevermind.
So it doesn't really matter what Tivo does, until my cable company, or Scientific Atlanta / Cisco Systems, implements the same features.
Cable companies control the DVR space now. Tivo is just a nitch player that happened to have started it all.
Seriously, who thought that a company the size of TiVo could take on the entire broadcast entertainment industry? Eventually they had to play ball. They only needed to keep the "ad zapping" functionality long enough to get their foot in the door with consumers. Now they have a Brand and can start to screw customers and still manage to turn a profit because they're backed by the Big Boys.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
I use MythTV. I does everything I would want a Tivo for, records every instance of a program, lets me pause live TV, time shifting in general. On top of that it has a deadicated weather module, video game management, music player/management, netflix management, and a photoalbum. I'm sure I've missed a few things. I'm plaaning on building a dedicated MythTV backend and setting up several front ends throughout the house all sharing the same central content. Screw Tivo, I like this better.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
All I ask for is choice. Advertising in the US has subsidized or made free our entertainment. If Tivo goes the same direction, where their service is free or greatly reduced, I am all for it. But if I want to pay a premium price to avoid advertising, I should have that option as well.
Both satellite and cable have had it screwed up for a long time, advertisements and I am paying for the cable. At least stations like HBO and Showtime are still ad free, but the thing that TiVo should enable is a choice.
D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M.
It's simple. The only reason I watch any TV now is because I have a TiVO as well as the cable company's DVR. If I'm forced to watch ads, I think the DVR's, as well as my cable connection, will go the way of my dot-matrix printers. There's nothing worth sitting through those six-minute soul-sucking commercial breaks for.
Proverbs 21:19
How often are the "answers" on a show like Jeopardy actually some specific consumer product - like every other answer now? The content of the show is advertising. Programming, once merely a conveyance for advertising, has *become* the advertising.
Also, more and more often I see an item in Dave's Top Ten List that references some consumer product, usually one which is currently being promoted. No such thing as bad publicity!
A lot of noise has been made lately regarding TiVo's transformation from an ad zapper to Madison Avenue's new darling.
The day Madison Avenue considers TiVo as anything but a mortal enemy, I will switch to using a Myth box.
Currently, TiVo has a slight edge, at least for those of us fortunate enough to have free lifetime basic service (Yeah, suuuuuure I'll upgrade... Just as soon as they offer that free for life). But if they make it progressively more difficult to avoid ads, I'll just avoid TiVo.
In their first podcast ever, TiVo explains how they hope to redefine advertising in the age of the DVR through a customer centered approach.
They already have redefined advertising, or at least the sub-category of the 30-second spot - As "An obsolete means of giving viewers a bathroom break, once necessary only because viewers lacked the ability to pause live TV". Unless their new definition includes a way to get rid of even more advertisements, they'd do well to quit while ahead.
how will their new initiatives change your TV viewing experience?
Well, it might make it TiVo-less in the near future, but aside from that - They just can't make people start watching commercials again. Sheep might never discover on their own that the clover in the shady spot by the tree tastes better, but once forced to try it, they'll never go back to plain ol' grass.
I have a DirecTiVo, so I haven't seen any of the newer features they've been unrolling. However, I do get the daily advertisement listed towards the bottom of the main TiVo menu page. I've watched a few of these. In fact, thanks to one of them, I won a Logitech Harmony 880 remote! If they keep the ability to view the ads optional, then I'm fine with it (much like Google ads). However, if they shove them down my throat and make them unavoidable, then I'll think about taking my business elsewhere.
This guy's the limit!
Most of us have a MythTV box anyways, or not?
It's the same with all commercially available systems... they're not biting the hand that feeds them. Sooner or later you'll have the fancy commercal skipping/deleting only in nonprofit/opensource software.
.sigh
HDTV will be locked down so hard that building your own DVR will be difficult at best. Thanks to DMCA, attempt to bypass any of the DRM could potentially land your ass in jail. In summary, once analog TV comes to an end, we're all pretty screwed.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
http://www.mythtv.org/
I ndex
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/User_Manual:
From MythTV Background:
Background
I got tired of the rather low quality cable box that AT&T Broadband provides with their digital cable service. It's slow to change channels, ridden with ads, and the program guide is a joke. So, I figured it'd be fun to try and build a replacement. Yes, I could have just bought a TiVo, but I wanted to have more than just a PVR -- I want a webbrowser built in, a mail client, maybe some games. Basically, I want the mythical convergence box that's been talked about for a few years now.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Rediscover the book. Commercial-free, self-paced, endless supply of quality content, cheaper than cable, educational, and the country will be better off for it.
The whole purpose of any DVR unit is to watch the ads for you. How long 'till the functionality is released for the box to simply respond to the adserver to 'send another ad' and >> /dev/null .
Anybody can work under ideal circumstances. -- Jeff K. (January 4, 2001)
Yeah to SageTV, or MythTV. Frankly Tivo is turning into Max Headroom TV. Rather than giving you control, they give the control and information to the Ad companies.
I'm predicting that the next Tivo headline involves giving all info to the NSA.
Ok, we're TiVo addicts (through DirecTV) and I'd LOVE to use it more actively.
We (kids + parents) almost NEVER watch live TV anymore and, in fact, usually deliberately wait until the show has started for 15-20 minutes so we can fast-forward through ALL of the commercials. For us, the 30% watching commercials is really a lot closer to 5% (max).
That said, my kids watch music videos and we'd definitely order CDs or have the songs automatically emailed to us if that was an option. That would probably double (or triple) our music purchases.
For things like the FedEx caveman commercial, why not let TiVo email us a link to the video on the FedEx website - that's great for me and great for FedEx - AND I'd probably forward it to me friends. Wow!
I often see commercials that I'd like more info on, but I forget about them 30 seconds later. If that was linked into an email where I could get more info on my own time, then GREAT!! I'd LOVE it. Particularly if it took 2 seconds to request so it didn't interupt my show. (And as long as TiVo managed my email and sent me the links - I wouldn't want to get massive spamming).
That said, users shouldn't worry - TiVo knows it's primary success comes from users who want to skip commercials so I seriously doubt they'll do anything that jepordizes or alienates those users.
My wife and I almost never watch live TV. Virtually everything we watch is pre-recorded (the exception being the odd hockey game). When we watch the shows we've recorded, we never watch the commercials. We fast foward through them all, as quickly as possible. I don't care if they're funny or amusing; they're still trying to sell me something. I just want to get back to my show.
We notice an amusing side-effect of this whenever we go out to the movies (once every 3 months or so), because we don't recognize any of the posters for upcoming movies! Virtually all the previews we see in the theater are brand new to us. The only reason we know about new movies at all is by media buzz ('Da Vinci Code,' 'Brokeback Mountain', or word of mouth from friends ("Did you know they're making another X-Men sequel?"). It's kind of funny, and the first time we noticed it, it really reminded us of how dramatically our viewing habits have changed thanks to the PVR.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
Why is this worse than Google delivering targeted ads with a search? It's not like TiVo has any intention of forcing anybody to watch these new ads. They are simply allowing people to express interest in certain ad content. If somebody decides they'd like to receive FedEx ads, they can request it. The ads will then be available in a folder for them to watch or not watch at their convenience.
I don't mind watching certian ads as long as they're of decent quality. On the other hand, there's one ad in particular that I refuse to watch. It's an ad for a local discount furniture store (I'm in the Boston area). All the ads feature the two owners and end with their stores jingle. It's the only ad that I will purposely go out of my way to either mute or change channels when it comes on, even if the remote is on the other side of the room. I simply can't stand their voices, their ads, or their jingle. And they run their ads every morning during all the local news casts, so I see/hear them virtually every single day. They've done a very good job of ensuring that I will never visit their stores, simply because their ads annoy me so much.
The point I'm trying to make is that if ads are made interesting and entertaining I'll be much more likely to watch them. If they get on my nerves then I'll be sure to skip them by whatever means necessary. If advertisers keep this in mind then they'll do a better job of getting eyeballs in front of their ads. Of course, entertainment value depends a great deal on relevence, so better targeting of ads, like what TiVo hopes to do, is big.
All you weepers and gnashers of teeth slamming TIVO didn't even read the article, which is normal for slashdot I suppose.
I cant remember the last time I watched a commerical. *everything* I watch is recorded, so I can skip ads. If I am channel surfing, and find something I want to watch thats not on one of the movie channels, I record it, and watch it later, so I can skip commercials.
As long as my Tivo allows me to skip commericals, I will use it. When the day comes when I have to watch commercials, that will be the day I get rid of it.
The article was NOT about getting rid of skipping commercials...
I'm gone. I've been a DirecTV/Tivo customer since the boxes came out. Never bothered to hack the box (I may have to now), I was happy with the basic service. I always liked to say 'Tivo makes Television Bearable'. If they start taking away my ability to zap past commercials, there really will be no reason for Tivo anymore. Now it's no better than a VCR with a broken fast forward button.
It's bad enough I have to pay to watch TV these days, I shouldn't be forced to listen to adverts as well. It's just like dropping 20 bucks on a DVD and being forced to watch 5 minutes of commercials before it starts. And they wonder why piracy is on the rise!
These people need to find new ways to advertise, they're driving their market away. I can live without TV. Can they live without me?
I love my TiVo. The software and data feed is amazing and blows the doors off of the cable DVRs that I have used. That said, I stopped recommending them to friends and family over a year ago. The continual erosion of flexibility and empowerment coupled with them pushing folks away from the lifetime subscription option and forcing folks to have a recurring subscription expense just sours my taste for their product. I dread the day when they remove my cherished "30 second skip ahead" function...but I bet it is coming.
I now tell non-techie folks to get a (nearly free) cable DVR and tell my tech geek friends to build a MythTV box. TiVo will never see another dime from me...which is too bad, because the cable card HDTV TiVo looked nice...but not if I am going to have pay a fortune to have the privilege of being an advertiser's bitch.
Given the many content industry executives' opinions regarding "not watching advertising == theft", how do you think they would react to basically being told that instead of the marginal "blipverts" you get when watching, now *some other advertiser* gets to fully overwrite that even marginal visibility? Talk about ad-space dilution.
Now look at it from the advertiser's point of view... you purchase a spot, and some other schmoe gets your audience if that audience has TiVo? Sounds like the web "framing/deep linking" wars all over again.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
I still use a VCR...as far as I can tell, it still zips past the ads.
If they're not insultingly stupid, and are cleverly written (not hard to do -- spring for the writers), I watch. Some I watch every time I see them (Caveman FedEx commercial anybody?).
We stop for every Geico commercial - even scroll back to the beginning. My wife gets a kick out of its accent.
Otherwise I watch a new ad usually once, if I happen to see a split-second of it when skipping and it looks interesting. (Note: Person standing on white soundstage talking is not interesting, even if they are holding/standing next to the product for sale.)
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
TiVo is still a company that matters becuase they innovated. They were (one of?) the first companies to really get timeshifting right. They made it work well and made it cheap enough that people could afford it. They did this when there were no real competitors out there. Yes, I know ReplayTV was there, but at first Replay had some real problems that made TiVo look good by comparison...those problems were short-lived, but they gave TiVo the head start it needed to be the marketshare winner.
What TiVo needs to do is innovate some more. Bring us something that consumers want but can't get elswhere. Do something like Kaleidescape (but WAY cheaper!), add good TV time/place shifting, stream videos from Netflix, just BE the the entertainment hub in every way possible. Hell, partner with Nintendo to get some Wii hardware under the hood and integrated. Do...something! Because just adding more drive space and HDTV is not going to keep the lead.
Start with decoupling the server from the client. They've started that with the sharing idea, but go all the way. There is NO reason that I should need a recorder in every room. I only need one recorder (as long as it has multiple tuners), but I need many players. And if the players are cheaper and smaller, then you have a new product to market.
Most of this isn't hard. MythTV does much of it already, but Myth just doesn't yet do all this in a consumer friendly off-the-shelf hardware package. TiVo can bring this to reality. They have the street cred with retailers to get a revolutionary new device on Best Buy's shelves.
Hell, just partner with MythTV and offer GOOD prepackaged Myth boxes for all I care, but do something besides offering my yet larger HDDs in lieu of real innovation. 60 hours of TV is plenty. Give me a reason to sit down and watch it.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/
-Tom
I don't watch TV anymore and I don't miss it. I stopped in 2003 when I moved out of my parents house. I just never bothered to get cable. For a while, I got alot of ps2 games and played some mmorpgs, but then I got more and more into GNU/Linux and realized just how much of my time I was wasting on things I could not modify to my liking. As far as sitting back and watching something, generally I like to participate in something rather than sit back and watch, of course I might very well be in the minority here, but there is plenty of intresting stuff to read on the internet anyway. Right now I have a webcomic http://www.jastiv.com/ At some point in the near future, I plan to make some kind of animated short movie that of course works out of the box with no proprietary plugins. I am not going to waste money on software licenses.
I really wish this one detail was in the summary: Tivo is not talking about forcing you to watch commercials. They are talking about targeted opt-in advertising FROM THE TIVO MENU. So you have to specifically go there to watch them, they will not just pop in during your TV stream.
From the article:
'"The consumer is in charge and we need to respect that," said Kent. "Our consumer satisfaction rate is very high and if you respect that and remember that they're the ones who decide, not the networks, not the advertiser and not us, TiVo, then they actually will interact with your advertising on their own time."
What I really like about Kent's statement is that it emphasizes TiVo's use of opt in advertising. If you don't want to interact with the ads, you don't have too. It's up to the advertisers to give you a reason to be there.'
I think that Tivo's partnership with Brightcove will give them multiple opportunities to redefine advertising and create a great deal of value beyond the IP-TV component people speak about.
d ge/Blog/22D1E57F-6427-4B69-AF7E-F50B9ADC35DB.html
I did a recent post on this that you may find of interest:
TIVO Makes A Very 'Bright' Move...
http://web.mac.com/digitalpodium/iWeb/TheDigitalE
-john
I've still got my ReplayTV 50xx, which at least tries to auto-skip commercials, and doesn't tie up my bandwidth downloading special advertising.
:)
I'll care when I move to HDTV. But I mostly only watch PBS and news, anyway. If I have to, I'll use my USB2-based HDTV dongle to record those, so I'm more concerned with whether DVICO comes out with OSX drivers
From buying a TIVO. Pathetic, that none seem to be able to resist the advertising $.
Take the 90-Day Challenge! http://rwmurker.bodybyvi.com/
How about this... We get rid of all the advertising on TV, and then raise to price you have to pay to watch. Everyone that has been paying for advertising then lowers the price of their products. That way, we pay for what we want directly, rather than having it added onto the price of goods we buy and then paid to the content producers for advertisement time. Even if we didn't get rid of ALL advertising, we could at least scale things down. The whole "show the same ad at every break" is not only annoying, but pointless. Do they really expect someone will be uninterested in a product the first 5 times they show their annoying ad, but then suddenly change their mind the 6th time?
...this won't change a thing for me.
Tivo's "Product Watch" thingie is deja vu all over again for me. I was lead techie in a company called MPression Entertainment, now defunct. Our business plan was to provide video on demand to hotels using set top boxes and movies stored locally at the hotel. The catch was that it was to be funded by advertising, some of which would be on demand to the hotel guest. The pitch was that the hotel guest could request a video ad, adn they'd get credits for free movies and other rewards. Sadly the company went belly up when the CEO was shipped off to federal prison. You can't win 'em all. :P
Anyway, the "reward" bit is one thing sorely missing from Tivo's new venture. What value, beyond possible entertainment, does the customer get from viewing the videos? They can get video entertainment elsewhere (on their own Tivo box, for goodness sake) so why give benefit to Tivo and the advertisers by watching them? It makes no sense...
It'll be a whole new Hi Def ballgame. Look for the black screen on an analog TV near you.
With the networks now offering their shows on the web for free, why buy a TiVo? I can watch shows off the network websites when and how I want. The programming offerings will expand to the point of video on demand in the next year or two. If a TV viewer is satisfied viewing a show on the small screen of an iPod then why would that person what to spend big bucks on a HDTV screen? If I have a thousand or two to throw at a TV, why would I want to do that when I can purchase a faster computer or bigger monitor and watch my TV that way? When I look at the Bush economy of the rich get richer, the young and poor have no reason not jump on the HD bandwagon. If this comes to pass there would be no reason for advertisers to go through TV networks when they can go straight to the show producers who might as well independently webcast their show.
At the risk of wandering into Offtopic Trollsville, it's the advertizers that are buying a product from the broadcasters. The product? US. The viewers. Eyeballs, hearts and minds.
Before Tivo's "new initiatives", I watch the news at night (over the air, digital, free).
After Tivo's "new initiatives", I watch the news at night (over the air, digital, free).
Sounds like no change to me...
And by 'customer', they mean 'advertiser'.
You must think in Russian.
... like the ones in Boards' Screening Room and ViralX. A lot of them are good to watch.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
0. Purchase shares in company. /.
1. Grovel web for podcasts about company.
2. Have blog partner summarize podcast.
3. Post link to
4. Profit!
Its like Tivo, but without any danger of crap. I can watch it at my leisure, its always ad free, and its readily available.
Put some buttons on the bottom of the remote that allow users to tag each ad they see (Funny, Stupid, Dishonest, Relevant to me, Intriguing, Insightful? Nah). Then tailor the commercials each user gets based both on their own votes and the aggregate data from the entire user base, er, COMMUNITY!!. I know someone already said nobody wants their TV-viewing experience to be interactive, but I think being able to angrily squeeze a button and feel like I'm being heard would give me a greater sense of satisfaction than screaming at the TV (though I'd probably keep right on doing that). As an added bonus, this could put the Nielsen ratings out of business. Oh, and there needs to somehow be a WEB portion, which is the PLATFORM, which uses AJAX COLLABORATIVE MASHUP (any buzzwords I missed?)
TiVo explains how they hope to redefine advertising in the age of the DVR through a customer centered approach
This is hilarious. Customer centered ads.
that must mean TiVO is gonna put us customers "in the center" so the ring of advertisers can have their way with us.
too bad TiVO has to suck to compete. their product works so damn well.
They've already got your money in the required subscription fees to operate your TiVo at all. Now they go to the broadcasters and collect another big pot of money for forcing you to watch specified commercials. Then there's patent trolling for a third income stream, and to prevent more desirable competition. Quite a business model TiVo has there.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
how will their new initiatives change your TV viewing experience?
Well, it'll get Tivo taken off the list of pontentials, certainly. The trouble with directed advertising so far has consistently been that it doesn't work. Just as the telemarketer will push you to consider something you clearly don't want, because some people can be pressured into buying things they don't want, advertisers want, certainly to be directed at solid potential customers, sure - but they want to spray all over everybody else too, just in case.
Meanwhile, PC based solutions are so near to delivering fully. Why bother even thinking about proprietary service?
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
"how will their new initiatives change your TV viewing experience?"
I hate to sound elitist, but for smart consumers, it changes nothing. Smart consumers have either built their own MythTV boxes, or use ReplayTV units, neither of which are affected by whatever the hell TiVo does. Both MythTV and ReplayTV boxen skip commercials without additional advertising (sometimes automatically), share shows with other units (sometimes over the internet), etc., etc...
If you lack curiousity to research other solutions, both free and commercial (pun not intended), then you deserve what you get. Sorry to sound pretentious...
I love my Tivo, it's been very useful. But all along, I've maintained that as soon as ads become more pervasive or unavoidable, then the original appeal of Tivo (for me) has been lost. I would then venture off into the open source world, like MythTV, for a solution. But one has to wonder, when someone will try to stomp them out, too. As these types of projects are potential competitors to services like Tivo, and they "could" perhaps try patent-trolling schemes to snuff them out. Nagios (formerly NetSaint) had to put up with trademark issues, ultimately forcing them to change the product name - even though, it was clear there was no competitive threat. Different case, but same tactics. Thoughts?
I happen to like this TiVo feature. I strongly prefer to click on long-form advertising rather than having to constantly fast-forward through 30 second nonsense.
Seems like this can be a win-win for viewers and advertisers.
Viewers Win
- You still don't have to watch anything you don't want to
- Longer ads usually mean better, more creative content since they have more than 15-20 seconds to beat you over the head with the message
- You can watch full-length movie previews (I happen to really like doing this)
- If the ad is boring you can pause, stop, or opt out entirely
- It's not just ads- it's videoblogs, etc.
Advertisers Win
- You know how many people are choosing to watch your ad
- Longer ads means more time for message
- TiVo distribution likely cheaper than mass market saturation- buying broadcast time in NYC versus targeted TiVo users only
- 'Thumbs down' instant negative feedback can prevent embarrassing mass market rollouts that just don't work
- You are reasonably certain someone is actually watching rather than leaving the room while it is on because they CHOSE to view it
If you are constitutionally opposed to all advertising I can see why you might hate this. But I NEVER EVER watch ads anymore- I don't watch any programs live and I always fast forward through the ads. Yet, I am willing to watch the TiVo-suggested content because it happens when and where I want it to. Also, it has been more focused towards my interests- ads for films and for upcoming shows.
If the consumer is really in charge, is there a way for them to tell Tivo "Never, ever, waste any of my electrons downloading commercials. Ever."?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Instead of ads for tampons, SUV's, and herpes medication, I might be inclined to sit through commercial breaks if they went something like this:
"Hey there Mr. Pion from 21 Jump Street, would you like your lawn mowed tomorrow for only $39.99? Call Honest Bob's lawn care now!"
Hell yeah I'd like my lawn mowed for $39.99!
Or how about:
"Mr. Pion, did you know that with your credit score of 750, Geico could save you $193.26 on your Honda Civic liability insurance!
That would be pretty cool.
If TiVo is so customer centered, why don't they improve their interface to make it easier to use? It is really hard to type "Invasion" using the Ouija-board method of text entry. Keyboard, anyone? Faster searches? How about getting rid of that literal 5 minute delay after rearranging your To-Do list? That's just a bad sorting algorithm or something. The user interface has never every changed that I've noticed, and I have been using it for years. The same sucky things that make you roll your eyes are still there. Tivo is like democracy, to paraphrase I think Winston Churchill. It's the absolutely worst system you could think of, except for all the others. :-)
Currently hooked on AMP
TiVo bending to bullshit and trying to tell everyone it's not.
But then, that's nothing new. Advertisers and TV execs know full well people in general hate commercials and if given opportunity, they'll skip'em, change channel, go to the fridge etc. So to combat the issue their answer is volume and frequency. One of those times you're bound to catch the sucker off guard. And so every 6-7 min or so we have the same f&^%$ing spots over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over... and over. Makes me wanna puke! Not only we have far too frequent commercial brakes that totally ruin TV watching experience and make people wanna strangle small animals, beginning and endings of programs are cut up for channel promos, and most annoying of them all, in-program woosh-zaaap-bang-click-tada! "Watch this reality show on Tuesday" woosh-zaap-bing-click. This, not even TiVo can help. Oh well, somebody's got to pay for the programms I get to watch for free right? I'm sorry I don't buy it. Actually I do "buy" it. I shell out ~$90 each and every month so that I can have this "free" TV. Divvy it up. To the next executive who gets out of his Bentley and cries "It costs money to run a TV network" - eat shit and die you gready f%#$ing bastard.
Advertising will be with us as long as there is business around but the model must change. I'm sure advertisers would happily sue everyone who changes a channel or takes a bathroom break if it was remotely possible (cause that's the American way), and forcing people to watch their crap by way of restrictive technology and law is a short term band-aid and a long term suicide. Advertising needs to reinvent itself and find a new way to effectively reach consumers without alienating them in the process. I would actually welcome thumbs up/down idea someone mentioned earlier. Although, I feel my Thumbs Down button would be seriously overused. I also hope sat tv people monitor what programs I am watching in hopes that more importantly they monitor what programs I choose NOT to watch. Which actually could explain why some crap shopping channels, though previously and constantly deleted - mysteriously reappear in my channel lineup ever so often. So reluctantly, maybe TiVo is onto something. Or maybe they just smell some green and it will make matters even worse still.
No kidding. If there is one thing I do hate about my DirecTiVo box is that every other night it decides to conviniently change a channel for me and record an exciting infomercial. If I happen to be time shifting live TV and don't catch that damn "we'll change a channel, ok?", bang, there goes my program.
Tivo already has opt in adverts. Get them on mine all the time. But they -HAVE- been talking about changing things so you can't fast forward through commercials. Comes up like every 6 months now.
The thing which really stripes my ass regarding commercials is the carpet-bombing technique used in scheduling them. So an ad is funny? Then it must be even funnier repeated every ten fucking minutes all night long. They have something like three slightly different blocks of commercials, which they put on infinite repeat for a week (sounds like ClearChannel, come to think of it). Chris Tucker on the Cross, how is this NOT supposed to be annoying as hell?
I'm not sure if the network or the advertiser is to blame for this brain-damaged approach to advertising (probably a bit of both, with a healthy dose of RIAA-esque inability to accept and account for basic human psychology), but it is intensely irritating--and the main reason I refuse to watch live TV anymore. I really don't mind the ads (they do pay for the content, after all, and we actually back up to watch ads which catch our eye), but by the fourth time I've been forced to sit through any particular commercial in one sitting, I'm wanting to go with a competitor just out of spite.
Annoying the customer is rarely a good business practice.
A company like TiVo grows while more and more people use their stuff, but after a while they hit a saturation point and their growth slows down which causes their stock to stagnate. So what to do now to increase growth? Customers won't pay more so the only real alternative is to find alternative revenue streams. The easy one is advertising.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
If I were to tell the "ad-bot" what I was after, maybe it would show me an ad I actually care about. Oh wait, that's Google Ad Words. I figure I can wait five years, fellas, get on it!