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?"

Comments

some personal thoughts about advertising

[yagu]

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.

my experience

[gEvil (beta)]

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.

We never watch commercials

[Kombat]

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.