Tivo, faced with oblivion due to native DVR technology embedded in cable and satellite set-tops, is on a tear. First, the company announced last week that its devices would support the transfer of recorded programs to Apple iPods or Sony PSPs. This move raised the hackles of at least one network, NBC, which vaguely threatened to pursue litigation against the personal recording company (ironic grumbling given that Tivo’s CEO Tom Rogers was a long-time top NBC exec.)
This latest development prompted David Wilkerson at MarketWatch to speculate whether Tivo was moving too fast to save itself.
Now Tivo has announced that it will offer searchable commercials. The theory behind the move is that viewers aren’t necessarily interested in the commercials served to them automatically, so why not tailor the fit and let viewers search out commercials that might interest them.
The new Tivo set-up will allow viewers to establish a profile of products they are interested in, and Tivo will download commercials that fit the profile. Advertisers will be able to pick the viewers’ keywords in order to associate themselves with the profiles.
Tivo is working with three media buying outfits — Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Interpublic Media, Omnicom Group Inc.’s OMD and Publicis Groupe SA’s Starcom MediaVest Group — as well as with independent Dallas ad agency Richards Group and Comcast Corp.’s Comcast Spotlight ad-sales division.
On the whole it’s a relatively silly idea. I doubt few Tivo customers actually want to watch commercials even when they like the product (a BMW, for example) and any viewer profile data must be updated regularly to be of any true value to advertisers, a chore added on top of keeping track of programs that need to be recorded. Om Malik has a similar, although more optimistic take, regarding the concept.
From an advertiser perspective, this is not such a bad option - you have a much higher chance of getting your ad viewed. It is yet another nail in the coffin of the network television, that already looks like an aging rockstar with too many piercings already. However, if you are a paying customer of TiVo, you should have a problem with that. Unlike Google, TiVo charges a subscription service, and the main reason people are happy to pay is “time shifting television” and skipping through ads. And Google doesn’t make you buy a device. Make the service free and then TiVo and its customers are on equal footing.
Cynthia Brumfield at 1:11 PM|Comments(0)
Blogs We Read
