Jeremy was disappointed to discover Comcast dropped banner ads onto his DVR this week:

I noticed I’d lost about 1/8th of my overall screen space to a new “advertisement slot.” Worse yet, I’ve lost 2 (of 6) lines of the visible grid area, meaning I have to spend roughly 1/3 longer than before just to scroll through channels.

Assuming he’s stuck with them, JT provides several interesting suggestions on how Comast (or is it Motorola?) might improve their ad-serving implementation. Until then, he wonders where that Comcast-Motorola-TiVo is… While he’ll get a better interface (one day), the ads won’t be going away:

make the TiVo(R) service and advertising capability widely available to Comcast customers

combine TiVo’s unmatched DVR features and innovative advertising capabilities with the power of Comcast’s advanced digital television services

TiVo and Comcast will make TiVo’s interactive advertising platform available across Comcast’s customer base

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We humans have a tendency to want to quantify absolutely everything, which is why it’s no surprise that bean counters have fixed their beady little eyes on the world of online video. Where Nielsen dominates broadcast TV metrics, web analytics companies are now carving out a niche in video on the Internet. And the nature of the Web means that analysts aren’t limited to viewer samples; they can pore over the behavior of every single visitor to a video site, collecting data on what, when and how clips are watched.

A few Web video companies have recently announced partnerships that add analytics to their product offerings. Brightcove is partnering with startup Visible Measures, and Maven Networks is collaborating with WebTrends. The theory is that these companies will now be able to measure not just viewership, but viewer “engagement”. Which (again in theory) should tell advertisers down to the penny how well their investments are paying off.

I’m all for analysis, but the need to put a number on everything starts to drive me a little batty. And I fear that the ability to break down everything on the Web into measurable bits will drive all rationality out the window in a quantifying frenzy. Numbers aren’t objective because they’re still interpreted by humans. Humans trying to make money.

Meanwhile, should you be worried about the data companies are collecting on the Web video you watch? Stay away from those bomb-making demos and porn videos and you should be okay. For now. I think.

A periodic roundup of relevant news…

• Customer solves TiVo Series1 DST issue: TiVo Community
• Official S1 Daylight Savings Time opt-in fix: TiVo
• “Reel” hoops with John Salley: TiVo
• Toast Titanium TiVo Transfer fix: Roxio

A periodic roundup of relevant news from our other blogs…

• The Real Story on VOD: Connected Home 2 Go
• The FiOS Connection: Connected Home 2 Go
• TV Advertising - Staples v Office Depot: Digital Connection
• On Apple TV: Connected Home 2 Go

Photo courtesy of David Silbey and his T-Mobile Dash

More interestingly, maybe cable operators should do something equivalent to ESPN’s Full Circle coverage of certain events like last year’s Duke vs. UNC games. Instead of having different ESPN networks covering different aspects of the game, have different on-demand channels showing different game-related content. One station could have the game at 3/4 screen with the rest of the display dedicated to dynamic player and game stats. Another station could syndicate one of the college’s own radio commentators over the broadcast video feed. Another station could feature different camera angles.

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If you watched the Super Bowl last night, chances are you tuned in for and even repeat-viewed some of the commercials. It’s the one time of year when couch potatoes actually want to watch ads, and TiVo capitalized on the phenomenon by making certain commercials download-able for enthusiastic fans.

Top Ten

1. Bud Light: Language Course with Carlos Mencia

2. Bud Light: Rock Paper Scissors

3. FedEx: Don’t Judge

4. Nationwide: Kevin Federline Rollin’ VIP

5. Doritos Crash the Super Bowl

6. CareerBuilder: Office Jungle

7. Blockbuster: Mouse

8. Doritos Crash The Super Bowl: Checkout Girl

9. Chevrolet: Everybody Loves a Chevy

10. Schick: Quarto Science

Given its new ad agency, maybe next year TiVo will have its own Super Bowl commercial?

TiVo’s giving away a Series2 dual-tuning TiVo with Lifetime Service each month through July. All that’s required for entry is an email address.

Interesting factoid #1: The package is valued at $549.98.

Interesting factoid #2: Contradicting speculation on the TCF, “Each DVR requires its own TiVo service subscription and activation, and it cannot generally be transferred to any other DVR.”

I assume this contest predates TiVo’s new advertising agency, The Kaplan Thaler Group. Wonder if they’d have told Mom (above) to show a bit more excitement?

Blockbuster video announced that they will be bringing back their lovable Carl and Ray campaign for this year’s Super Bowl spot. If you haven’t seen the clips, you can find them on YouTube or most of the other video sharing sites. I’ve never been a big fan of renting from Blockbuster, but I have to admit that I love these ads. The spots do a great job of infusing humor into the marketing message and the cuteness factor of digitally animated pets has an especially broad appeal for a spot that will be seen by such a large audience.

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