All PVR

The partnership between Tivo and Comcast has important implications for Tivo. If successful, it can show that Tivo software can be used in third party hardware.

This can open up a new revenue stream for Tivo and keep it from becoming extinct.

DVR functionality is definitely becoming mainstream and turning into a commodity. Already, many set-top box manufacturers are including basic DVR functions, like pause, rewind and fast forwarding. So the big way that Tivo can differentiate itself is through its branded extras, like “Season Pass”, “Guru Guides” and “Wishlist”. As well as its user interface, with the sounds, graphics and little TV logo.

Much like Apple, Tivo knows how to leverage its marketing and design in order to create a successful product. Tivo also knows what users like and what features are important. Other DVR manufacturers are just playing catch-up when it comes to extra features.

Tivo also wins by integrating the DVR with cable functions, like pay per view ordering and on-demand Comcast content. Integrating the cable box with the DVR will be so common in a few years, that stand-alone DVRs will become a thing of the past.

And that’s why I believe that many Comcast users will switch to Tivo-enabled boxes in droves. Pay a little extra per month, get rid of Comcast’s DVR and get Tivo instead.

If Tivo succeeds with the Comcast partnership, then it point to this success in trying to convince other satellite and cable partners–like AT&T, Dish Networks or maybe even DirecTV–that they can integrate their software into other DVRs.

Already, Tivo is branching out from selling Tivo boxes and subscriptions into other lines of business including:

* Advertising
* DVR Ratings
* DVR Software Integration

Tivo must continue to expand, find more business opportunities and innovate. Otherwise, any other company can come along and topple Tivo from the top.

Tivo, DVR, PVR, digital video recorder, Comcast

Yes, it’s true. Tivo knows when you skip ads.

Tivo knows when you’ve been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake.

A story on SFGate talks about Tivo’s new DVR ratings service called StopWatch that was announced last week. In it, a Tivo representative says this:

“I promise with my hand on a Bible that your data is not being archived and sold,” said Todd Juenger, TiVo’s vice president and general manager of audience research and measurement.”

Um, well at least not individually. Tivo is definitely capturing information from a sample of 20,000 users for its ratings service, however. And I think that’s OK.

But really, your medical records are probably being used in research without your knowledge. Again, it’s used in aggregate form. But medical researchers often use medical records to retroactively look at how care was performed, for example. Aggregate data is OK for most things, so why not for Tivo?

A few years ago, Tivo announced that the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction was the most watched moment, with the most rewinds, during the Superbowl. So Tivo definitely knows what’s going on.

But privacy advocates worry if Tivo can sell individual data. Or release it to the government if they ask for it. After all, Google was cooperating with the U.S. government last year to hand over its search data.

Juenger says in the article:

“If we were subpoenaed by the Justice Department, we would be literally incapable of saying what an individual user was watching,” Juenger said. “It would be impossible.”

But Tivo says that advertisers want more detailed data and they are looking into using a sample of subscribers where personal data will be part of the data.

Hmm. Tivo is swearing it is keeping individual privacy a secret. Should we keep them at their word?

DVR, PVR, Tivo, advertising, Super Bowl, Nielsen, TV ratings, StopWatch, digital video recorder

Since it’s Super Bowl time once again, it makes sense that everyone is talking about…advertising! Tivo announced yesterday that it had signed a deal with CBS to promote the Super Bowl and other CBS shows in a two week campaign.

Tivo calls this a “Gold Star Sponsorship” which will feature the ability to record the entire Monday night CBS line-up with a Season Pass. That’s a first, and it’s kind of cool, since you usually have to record every show individually.

(Think Tivo heard about how the Yankee Group thought it would be extinct in its current form by 2010? )

Tivo will embed interactive tags in programming, plus give CBS its commercial audience measurement to see how the TV viewers interact and record the TV programs.

“We know TiVo subscribers rewind, rather than fast-forward commercials, when watching the Super Bowl, and CBS is taking advantage of TiVo’s award-winning interactive advertising features to encourage this behavior,” said Davina Kent, Vice President, National Advertising Sales at TiVo, in a statement. “We are excited to help CBS take advantage of the popularity of the Super Bowl to drive viewers to exclusive content and ultimately schedule recordings of their
new programming.”

Last night when watching TV, I noticed that my Tivo was already displaying advertising on Tivo Central for the Super Bowl. Tivo offers up a short preview clip of a new CBS show called “Rules of Engagement” starring David Spade, as well as a clip of “Criminal Minds”.

Tivo, CBS, dvr, pvr, digital video recorder, personal video recorder, Super Bowl, advertising

The Yankee Group released a report saying that the “standalone DVR product category will cease to exist by 2010, and its dissolution will result in the end of TiVo as we know it.”

Although 2010 is just a few years away, it is conceivable. I believe that Tivo will switch from a subscription-based model, into an advertising revenue model. It’s inevitable. Tivo subscriptions are slowing, despite the popularity of DVRs.

Tivo Must Differentiate Itself.

Currently, Tivo’s advantage in the marketplace is its brand. In recent months, Tivo has run advertising to ensure that people know what a Tivo is and to accept no substitutes. That’s pretty tough work, when anyone with a few hundred dollars can build their own out of a spare computer.

But will stand-alone DVRs, as the Yankee Group reports, cease to exist? DVRs are popular today, in some part, but hasn’t reached mainstream acceptance. Many people I talk to, still have no idea what a DVR or Tivo is. Or they don’t own one. Simply put, DVRs offers just one functionality, and they must be more than DVRs and more like a media center.

I see DVRs morphing into media centers, that can play DVDs, connects to your cable or satellite provider and where you can watch photos and listen to your music library. I’m tired of having a separate cable box, DVD player, and DVR. I want an all-in-one device!

Already DVRs are becoming commonplace and Tivo is not the only option anymore. Customers can choose from a wide variety of DVRs–from their cable/satellite provider, non-Tivo standalone models, and PC-based DVRs. They all do the same thing: record TV shows, pause, rewind and store your media. Can Tivo provide something else?

Most people love the Tivo user interface which is a strong market advantage. That’s why it’s trying to build its brand even more. If customers clamor for the UI or features (Season Pass, Thumbs Up/Down), then Tivo can succeed. Witness the deal announced during CES, where Tivo will provide software for Comcast’s DVR. This can be Tivo’s future.

Tivo Must Switch To An Advertising Business Model.

Perhaps this is a shock to some people but Tivo is an advertising company more than a DVR. It serves up ads on its main menu, within TV commercials and by delivering advertising content from partners. Tivo also tracks what people watch, when they watch it and if they rewind–in aggregate form, of course. That’s a goldmine for advertising.

Now that the 30-second commercial is nearing the end of its usefulness, Tivo must capitalize on new forms of advertising. The Yankee Group report says that the future of DVR technology includes “time relevant advertising, location relevant advertising, ad telescoping, product placement and interactive advertisements.”

Don’t forget, Microsoft filed a patent last month, for changing advertising on saved DVR programs. That way, it can switch old advertisements for newer, more relevant ones. Tivo should step up R&D on how to maximize advertising revenues for the next version of Tivo.

If Tivo wants to survive, it must change.

Tivo, DVR , PVR, digital video recorder, personal video recorder, HTPC

According to PVRWire, Tivo is now flashing ads when users fast forward through commercials! For now, it seems the ad is for the same product that you’re fast forwarding, but conceivably Tivo can sell ads from other companies.

Fortunately, those of us with 30-second skip hack can safely bypass these commercials within a commercial.

So now there are even more ways to see ads on Tivo. Let me count the ways:

Gizmodo is saying that Tivo should drop the monthly subscription fees altogether. I totally agree! Now that Tivo is heavily into advertising, why should the users have to pay to be subjected to commercials that we want to skip?

Tivo, DVR, PVR, digital video recorder, advertising

Is it too early to stat thinking about the Olympics in Beijing? Perhaps. But Mike Bloxham, writing at MediaPost, says that this may be the first Olympics where “a decent number of households have grown used to (if not addicted to) their DVRs.”

In this article, Mike incorrectly says that the Olympics are this year, but actually they start August 2008. So that means that one additional year where people will get introduced (and addicted) to DVRs.

Since research has shown that most DVR viewers primarily view sports events “live” rather than recorded, it may change how people and advertisers see the Olympics. Will advertisers ask for lower rates because of DVR viewers? Will viewers want to watch the Olympics live in order to stay current and not have to run away when co-workers start talking at the water cooler?

I’ve owned a PVR for many years and used it to watch a number of Olympics and what I discovered is that it’s too difficult to know when a certain event, for example Curling, is going to be on TV. Some sporting events are delayed for another time block or they’re buried somewhere inside a four hour block of programing making it impossible to find your event.

Also, when NBC was broadcasting one recent Olympics in the U.S., sister networks like CNBC or MSNBC would also broadcast some less popular sporting events. And it was difficult to know the right channel to watch. Plus, with time zone differences, it’s an even bigger challenge to know what’s going.

Searching for particular events or countries with my DVR was impossible since their electronic program guides aren’t very detailed. So I would have to go to the Olympic and network website and find out times and channels, then go back to my DVR and record it. It required too much work and was too cumbersome.

So I just gave up and watched whatever I happened to remember to record. Or I would even just watch some shows live or “nearly live” (delayed by just a few minutes).

Even so, I never had enough time to watch everything I recorded with my DVR. Between work, relaxing and other TV shows, I would sometimes delete programming without even watching it. Last Winter Olympics, I kept some recorded shows well after the Olympics had ended promsing myself I would watch it. But I never did, and simply deleted them.

Overall, watching the Olympics with a DVR was not a very intuitive experience. But at least I was able to bypass many of those annoying and lengthy Olympic commercials, and those treacly personal narratives that interrupt the sports. Let’s hope the networks and DVR companies learn a little bit and make it easy for viewers to watch their favorite Olympic events.

What’s your experience watching the Olympics with your DVR?

Olympics, DVR, Tivo, PVR, Beijing

According to AdAge, PVRs may cost TV networks about $600 million in 2007 (registration required).

$600 million may seem like a drop in the bucket right now, but advertisers and the TV networks are battling it out over ad dollars. Advertisers are frustrated because their ads are increasingly being skipped and going unwatched. At the same time, Hollywood is trying to increase their advertising income despite a growing number of users that don’t watch commercials.

Networks want to count PVR viewers that watch shows after they air live. Advertisers don’t. Here’s more from the ARS Tecnica article:

The estimate of $600 million lost to miscounted DVR users is a 100 percent increase from the year previous, and there are no signs that DVR usage is going to plateau. According to one report, “Digital Video Recorders: Demand Surges As Mass Market Era Dawns” put out by Strategy Analytics, DVR usage in the US will almost quadruple by 2010 to include roughly half of all homes in the United States. $600 million is nothing to sneeze at, but this number could skyrocket into the billions of dollars in a few short years.

ZatzNotFunny posted a Tivo commercial that has been airing on cable channels recently. And he put it up on YouTube so you can take a look at it. It focuses on the Tivo brand name since they repeat the word “Tivo” like, um, lots of times. Plus the clip ends with the tagline: “It’s not a Tivo Unless It’s a Tivo.”

Check it out below:

According to DailyTech, Microsoft filed a patent for DVR advertising technology. The US Patent Office filing shows that Microsoft is creating technology where ads are not permanently embedded into a TV show, but uses a DVR ad-server instead. Ads can be turned on or off, depending on when a TV show is being watched. For example, new ads can be inserted into shows that may have been recorded weeks ago.

If this works, it can be great news for advertisers who can better target ad campaigns to the growing number of DVR owners.
From the DailyTech article:

Using a DVR-based advertisement database, a time-sensitive database is kept of all current ads being served on network TV. When a user watches a particular program, the Microsoft ad server will lookup relevant and appropriate ads from the network that produced the program and serve ads. If a show is recorded and watched repeatedly over time, different ads will be served. This method helps advertisers target and produce ads appropriately.

Still, this doesn’t address the problem of ad-skipping. Most DVR owners watch recorded shows and skip ads. Having targeted ads looks good from a technology point of view, but most users hate ads. Can this technology ever help users actually watch and like these ads?