Comments on: TiVo Sells Ads After Recordings

By: MegaZone

MegaZone — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:39:43 +0000

Oliver,

Because the DVD is your only option to get the movie, they have a monopoly. You either except the ads or don’t buy the movie. And it started back on VHS where many films had ads for other films at the start of the tape. At least with DVD most vendors make the ads skippable and those that don’t get criticized for locking them in.

TiVo isn’t the only DVR game in town, and they’re up against cheaper competition from satellite and cable vendors. They need to market themselves as the premium product with a better user experience. Once they throw that away, they throw away their main marketing edge. So they’re not as likely to tart-up their UI with ads as, say, Comcast is on their cable boxes.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:31:30 +0000

Dave, what makes you think that the TiVo guys don’t take a cue from the DVD guys, who have apparently discovered that they can get away with sticking mandatory FBI warnings and movie previews (=ads) in front of the actual movie.

There clearly seems to be a progression to push more and more advertising on paying TiVo customers. And since I don’t think the post-show commercials are going to work, just like the on-demand ads, it seems forseeable that a more and more desparate (for money) TiVo will escalate this further…

By: MegaZone

MegaZone — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:57:28 +0000

TiVo has done a good job so far at being unobtrusive with ads. I know some people find the TiVo Central Promos the height of offensiveness, but I find them completely acceptable. I watch, or don’t watch, them as I see fit. I’ve even signed up for the Product Watch content in some categories that I enjoy – I’m not going to buy a new car, but I like cars so I don’t mind seeing some test drives and nice promos.

I don’t see TiVo force-feeding the ads on users. If they get to that point then they’d be pretty desperate, I’d say.

By: junger

junger — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:02:02 +0000

You’ve got to think that the guys paying big bucks for Lost, 24, etc. will be po’ed that potential competitors will get cheaper rates from TiVo.

Interesting idea, though.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:21:38 +0000

I assume and hope TiVo knows if they were to place ads prior to a recording and make them mandatory, they’d need to offer both the hardware and service for free to retain any customers.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:46:18 +0000

And how long will it take until we read that TiVo will start inserting ads *before* a recording plays? (without the ability to skip over, for good measure).

I mean, really, who’s going to watch adds *after* the show? Most people presumably don’t even watch the credits.