Archives For Advertising

DISH Modifies Prime Time Anytime & Auto-Hop (To Defuse Broadcaster Wrath)

Dave Zatz —  July 26, 2012 — 20 Comments

auto-hop

DISH Network has rolled out an update to their well received Hopper DVR that, among other things, seems to respond directly to broadcaster concerns of an unlicensed on demand service that has led to a multitude of lawsuits.

If you recall, the Hopper incorporates a consumer friendly Prime Time Anytime feature to automate the recording of prime time network programming, with shows retained 8 days. Building upon that functionality, DISH then introduced Auto Hop commercial skip functionality… which, of course, the broadcasters did not respond well to.

To possibly head off or limit the pending legal action, DISH has tweaked both these services to require a bit more user interaction and to enable more granular control. Continue Reading…

In Advertising, DVR, Satellite TV
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TiVo Expands Advertising & Analytics Initiatives

Dave Zatz —  July 21, 2012 — 9 Comments

dark-knight-tivo-3

While TiVo rarely generates positive cash flow via DVR subscribers, they’re sitting on a healthy war chest via patent litigation victories. So why not drop $20 million cash on New York-based TRA to expand their media research services (and patent portfolio)? From the announcement:

TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), a leader in the advanced television entertainment market, today announced that it has agreed to acquire TRA, Inc., maker of the first and leading platform with the world’s largest database that directly links information from the same households as to what viewers watch with what they buy. TRA matches television exposures from 1.5 million TV homes with specific purchase transactions. The acquisition is expected to create a powerful combination of insights that will offer the TV advertising industry Internet-level measurement and accountability accelerating TiVo’s position in the billion dollar television analytics business.

According to the New York Times, TRA has had “27 cable and broadcast networks and 45 different advertising brands” on their roster during its five year existence (yet it’s not clear how many are still in play). T.R.A. originally resolved into “The Right Audience” … but will conveniently morph into “TiVo Research and Analytics” when the deal closes later this month. Interestingly, the Times pegs TiVo as a “television analytics company” — which is a bit like calling Apple an iPod company. Yet ,TiVo had been an investor in TRA and presumably the company will find synergies among the new and existing audience measurement tools (like Stop|Watch) along with their respective client rosters.

Meanwhile, across the pond, Continue Reading…

In Advertising, Patent, TiVo
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Time Warner Patent Blocks DVR Ad-Skipping

Mari Silbey —  June 22, 2012 — 10 Comments

I’ve been dreading this day since I first got my ReplayTV in 2001. Time Warner Cable has earned a patent for a method of disabling trick-mode features on DVRs. The tech lets Time Warner block fast forwarding so recorded programming (i.e. commercials) can’t be skipped over.

Time Warner patent prevention of trick mode DVR features

Although the patent was filed back in 2007, the timing of its issue is interesting in light of the new Dish commercial-skipping feature in the Hopper DVR. The broadcast networks have gone lawsuit-happy over the Hopper, and Time Warner’s patent shows them that the cable company wants to back them up. Of course, the desire to block commercial-skipping features, and actual deployment of the technology are two different things. As Steve Donahue points out at Fierce Cable, the likely backlash against such a move by Time Warner would likely have the MSO back-pedaling as fast as it did four years ago when it first tried to institute bandwidth caps. Unfortunately, as with bandwidth caps, even if Time Warner fails at first, that doesn’t mean it won’t try and try again. Continue Reading…

In Advertising, DVR, Industry
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TiVo Advertisers Gain PayPal Payments

Dave Zatz —  June 13, 2012 — 12 Comments

TiVo’s previously provided their advertisers and partners the ability to sell products to us DVR subscribers, but come this fall instead of mailing an invoice, linking an Amazon account, or sending the Dominos guy, they’ll now be able to complete transactions via PayPal:

TiVo Inc. and PayPal announced they have teamed up to provide TiVo users with the ability to purchase products featured in interactive advertisements on the TiVo user interface through PayPal, the faster, safer way to pay. This integration creates a new opportunity for advertisers and brands to connect with TiVo users and to turn their 30-second spots and interactive TiVo ad placements into actionable purchasing opportunities through a one-time account link.

Just because you build it, doesn’t mean they’ll come. While The Next Web touts this as “frictionless” TV shopping via remote, I’d say PayPal is anything but. More pointedly, I’m not convinced there’s a significant audience that will purchase products or services in this manner… and don’t imagine TiVo’s prior partner campaigns of this nature fared well. But, hey, maybe I’m wrong. And advertising will become so successful that they’ll follow in Amazon’s Kindle footsteps by offering a TiVo Premiere With Special Offers that does away with recurring service fees. It’s worth a shot!

In Advertising, TiVo
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TiVo Developer Channel Courts Third Party Apps

Dave Zatz —  June 3, 2012 — 25 Comments

tivo-developer-channel

As TiVo ramps up their Platform Sofware Development Kit (SDK), it appears they’ve settled on a logo and name. As described by TiVo Art Director Trevor Dubbert:

This logo mark for the TiVo Developer Channel is a branding project to promote the creation of third party software apps.

The TiVo Premiere didn’t actually live up to its original “One Box” billing, but the addition of features like Xfinity On Demand and a solid stable of updated apps could shift the balance. And Megazone reports TiVo’s new SDK program is on track to launch “this fall” – driven by a full time employee.

As to the logo itself, Trevor says:

In discussions with TiVo’s Product Manager, we came up with the idea of representing the brand name with binary code. The logo’s silhouette shape helps it to be recognizable as TiVo. With the lines of code it gives a nod to software developers who understand how to read binary.

While some may find the binary code representation of “TiVo” a tired play, investor Sam Biller (who dug up this story!) thinks it looks pretty good and I have to say that branding the program is a positive development, boding well for TiVo and their customers.

In Advertising, TiVo
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