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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...
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.
You mean to say they want to profit even more?
You misspelled "someday."
KFG
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.
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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!
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!
You must not own a TIVO or know anyone who does. If there is something on live TV that I want to watch I hit record and come back later.
The last thing I watched live was this year's Superbowl (oddly enough, for the commercials). Before that? The previous year's Superbowl.
Not just no, but hell no. If we're going to watch TV in 'near live' time, we'll check our wishlists, check the todo list or watch a few minutes of that interesting but not riveting movie we have recorded. About 20 minutes in, we start watching.
This has been a test. If this had been an actual Sig, you would have been amused.
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
Sure they do. People watch lots of "live" TV; however, I think it's getting less and less common. As people are all very busy, they still want to watch shows, they just want to watch them when they want to and have time to.
I think about my own situation: I've been considering building a MythTV DVR for a little while now. One of the reasons is that I don't always get a chance to watch what I want because of all the things I do -- I have a full-time 40+ hr/week job, I have a very part-time side business that I work on occasionally, I volunteer for a 501(c)(3) non-profit that I'm involved with -- which usually ties up at least 3 nights of my week, and I'm writing a book.
I don't have time to watch TV "live" all the time, and as a result, I end up missing some of my favorite shows....
I think this is how most people are using it -- to time shift their favorite shows so that they can watch them when they have time -- and I don't think I'm unique at all in not having very much time on my hands to watch TV.
My blog
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.
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...
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.
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 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'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
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...
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.