Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Buy From Amazon With Your TiVo

Posted by kdawson on from the product-placement-is-about-to-get-interesting dept.

PunkOfLinux writes "From The NYTimes comes news that TiVo and Amazon have reached an agreement to allow consumers to purchase products from Amazon through their television sets using their TiVo remote control. TiVo will launch the new service to consumers by merchandising products related to several high-profile programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Colbert Report, and Burn Notice. Broadband-connected Series2, Series3, and TiVo HD DVRs will be able to take advantage of the new feature." This sounds like the latest incarnation of the dream of television executives who in the early '90s talked about the "information superhighway," before it was clear that the Internet was going to fill that role. What they envisioned was "interactive TV," i.e. buying stuff with your remote.

2 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What's with this news? by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm pretty sure they are talking about buying things other than music and movies.

    Yeah, like if you like how the killer used the reciprocating saw to dismember the body on CSI:, buy it now with a ThumbsUp on your TiVo remote.

    I'm not shitting you: one of the CSI shows had product placement of a reciprocating saw as a dismemberment tool, first shown prominently in the episode (matching blade marks to bone), then the exact same model was advertised during a commercial break.

    I won't like it if it means pop-ups during the show. And I own 8 TiVos (7 subscribed).

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  2. Take it a little further.... by AceMulligan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A friend of mine worked at a marketing agency where she worked with a prototype system similar to this, howeverit was even more interactive. At any given time during a show, you could:

    1) Hit the pause button

    2) Point the remote at the TV which controles a mouse like cursor (think Wii Remote)

    3) Point to car\shirt\bag\etc that happened to be on the screen at the time

    4) Click it and be directed to a 'buy it now' interface

    The idea is that companies would pay the show for product placement adding to the revenue of the show and ... dare I say... eliminate the need for commercials.

    The only problem I foresee with this approach is increasingly blatant product placement within shows which WILL get to the point of being distracting, much like commercials are today.