PVR Wire

We already knew that TiVo was getting into the ratings business when it sold statistical data to Omnicom Media Group, and recently teamed up with IRI to offer even more advanced statistics on its customers viewing habits.

TiVo is now launching a service called StopWatch which offers data on the programming and viewing habits of TiVo customers, including that all important time shifted data. The time shifted data is what advertisers and TV networks are really concerned with at the moment.

TiVo has won one over on its leading ratings competitor Nielsen by offering second-by-second viewing data which Nielsen has refused to offer so far.

The advertising company Starcom is the first subscriber to TiVo's valuable data.

The growth of PVRs has caused a stir with TV advertising since they were first launched. First of all advertisers and broadcasters instantly took a dislike to PVRs for their ad skipping features on time shifted content.

More recently however, TV Networks have began to realize that people watching time shifted content may still watch adverts, that fast forwarded adverts may still have an effect on viewers, and that in general time shifted viewing is still valuable to the advertiser and should be accounted for.

Now TV Networks are demanding that time shifted PVR viewing be taken into consideration when making advertising deals. This causes a bit of a problem since it is currently very difficult to judge how many people are watching time shifted content, and more importantly how many people watch the ads.

Nielsen Ratings, a company which provides statistical TV ratings has something in the works that will be ready in May to address time shifted content, but until then advertisers and TV networks will find it hard to reach agreements.

While many TV companies are attacking new technology and seeing it as a threat, CBS seems to be one company that is beginning to stand out as making the most out of new technology for promotion.

CBS recently received press coverage for signing a deal with YouTube to allow some of its content to be legally shown on YouTube. CBS was subsequently happy with the increased promotion for its shows.

Now CBS has cut a deal with TiVo to actually encourage TiVo users to record its shows. That's pretty extreme considering most TV networks cringe at the idea of having their programs recorded and the adverts skipped.

From February 6th TiVo will embed interactive tags for two weeks to encourage TiVo users to record CBS' entire new Monday-night lineup. In addition to this TiVo users can view sneak previews of new CBS comedy Rules of Engagement and crime drama Criminal Minds.

It seems to be a continuing trend for TV companies to start implementing adverts within the Electronic Program Guides (EPGs) of PVRs. Comcast is one such company which is continuing to get on board with this.

Here on PVRWire we have discussed these ads appearing in some territories on Comcast PVRs. The ads have previously been reported in Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Tucson AZ, and Washington DC areas.

Now PVRWire has recently received an email claiming that the adverts are now appearing in the Miami/Florida region, bumping the 5th row of the program guide for a banner advert.

JJ Hawkins has summed up why these adverts are not only a pain, but unfair for Comcast subscribers. If you don't like these ads then why not get involved and let Comcast know about it and Kill those Comcast Ads!

[Thanks Fullman for the tip!]

Lexus yesterday announced it has signed an upfront-advertising commitment with TiVo and will see the car manufacturer extend its use of TiVo's interactive and targeted advertising solutions.

This will see Lexus advertisements featured in the Gold Star Sponsorship on TiVo Central, program placement, Product Watch and the continuation of the interactive Lexus car configuration Tool.

The fact that Lexus has decided to continue this advertising relationship outlines that Lexus must be overall pleased with the results of this new advertising campaign that breaks away from traditional TV advertising, making use of the interactive features of TiVo and PVRs.

It's likely that more companies will follow suit bringing more adverts to PVRs and TiVo.

The Yankee Group released one of their latest studies today titled "Technology on Fast Forward: 2006 to 2011 US DVR Forecast" (doesn't that just roll off the tongue?), which predicts that by 2010 PVRs as a product category will be dead, which will in effect lead to the death of TiVo.

Now first off, by dead they mean that you won't be going out and buying PVRs, instead they will be so common place with cable companies that there will be no need to buy a specific brand/kind.

That's a pretty bold claim to make, and most of the basis of it comes down to the belief that PVRs will be so commoditized that TiVo just won't be able to compete anymore.

Interestingly enough the Yankee Group stresses that you cannot take away our beloved 30-second skip button. Instead advertisers will have to make us want to watch commercials by using techniques such as:

• time relevant advertising
• location relevant advertising
• ad telescoping
• product placement
• interactive advertisements

So what do you think? Will PVRs become so cheap and common place that TiVo just won't be able to survive?

A while back, TiVo started giving you something to look at while fast-forwarding through commercials -- more commercials.

Apparently the ads are getting more sophisticated, now showing advertisements for the same product that is on-screen during the commercial. In theory, these ads are less obtrusive than the older ones, since they're only on-screen for a limited time, but if you bought a TiVo so that you'd never have to pay attention to a commercial again, they are a bit annoying.

The ads only pop up when you're fast-forwarding, so you can always get around them using the ole 30-second skip hack.

TiVo CEO Tom Rogers delivered an address at the Citigroup 17th Annual Entertainment, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas this week.

Here's some of the highlights:

:00 Tom Rogers tries to crack a joke
1:00 Clips of TiVo showing up as a pop culture reference in various TV shows
5:20 Three trends:

1. PVR use is growing, with as many as 60 million units expected in homes by 2010
2. Users fast forward through ads
3. Users want access to broadband content

9:00 Fifty percent of TiVo's new subscribers are analog cable customers
10:50 In addition to Comcast and Cox, TiVo is in discussions with other cable companies to bring a TiVo interface to non-TiVo branded set top oxes
13:30 Rogers claims "every major cable company CEO" has stopped by the TiVo booth at CES
15:40 TiVo is the only PVR that has an interactive advertising solution, making the company that was once a pariah among advertisers into a company that advertisers are willing to do business with
19:20 More than 50% percent of new subscribers are hooking their TiVo units up to a broadband connection
23:00 That Echostar litigation? That's just one patent, TiVo's got 80 more
24:37 Rogers will not talk about Quarter 4 financial news, meaning there's no information on how Series3 boxes are selling
29:30 Rogers summarizes recent announcements that TiVo is demonstrating its software on Comcast boxes, and has partnered with Rhapsody and Music Choice to deliver music content.

Perhaps my favorite nugget from the event was this:

Rogers says he was keen to move away from lifetime subscriptions, because they were undermining the company's attempts to gain new subscriber revenue. He says the company has pretty much been able to make up the money it used to get up front from lifetime subscription fees with its 3 year service plans.

"You get some of your most enthusiast customers, who would be more than willing to pay more money to TiVo, but they no longer have to. And what we've basically done is for the cost of lifetime, substituted that with a three year deal."

In other words, they've moved from a model of rewarding their most enthusiastic customers to a model where they milk them for all they've got. Nice. I mean, he's right, hard core TiVo fans will keep paying, but does have have to say it out loud like that?

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I'm starting to get sick of companies insisting they have the "first" service to do X, Y, or Z. Sure, you may be the first to announce a service that's designed to work with Windows Vista, and Intel's Viiv platform, but it doesn't mean other services won't also work.

Case in point, Showtime and ExtendMedia plan to showcase a new download to own video service at CES. Users will be able to purchase Showtime programming including Weeds, The L Word, and Sleeper Cell. You can watch them on a PC or copy them to a portable media player. So far so good.

But then they have to call it the "world's first video download-to-own service on Microsft's Windows Vista." All that really means is the service will probably launch sometime after Vista does. There's no information in the release about Mac or Windows XP compatibility, but I'm willing to wager you'll be able to download movies just fine (with XP anyway).

So last night I watched The Funniest Commercials of the Year on my TiVo. I made it through the hour long show in about 2 minutes. It was full of advertisements...

I kid of course, but it got me thinking. With the exception of a Super Bowl ad that made the list and a few random ads here and there, I hadn't seen most of the domestic commercials the show highlighted.

In this age of time-shifted TV, I'm sure a lot of you find yourself in a similiar situation as me and stare at your non-PVR owning friends blankly when they ask, "Have you seen that hilarious commercial where the monkeys point the laser lights at that dude's crotch?"

In addition, the show pulled in a bunch of foreign spots, pretty much all of which had me laughing hysterically. If we could get away with half the stuff they pull off in other countries, I'd probably record blocks of television and skip through the programming just to see the commercials.

The program is definitely worth a watch if you want to catch up on all the funny commercials you missed out on in 2006 while utilizing your remotes fast forward and 30-second-skip capabilities.

The show airs again on WTBS Friday, December 29th at 10:30 PM and again on Saturday, December 30th at 6:00 PM.

The growth of ad skipping using time shifted video on PVRs has been mirrored with the growth of product placements and new interactive advertising as advertisers begin to experiment with new ways to grab the user's attention.

To reach the ad skipping audience many advertisers have had a lot of focus on reality TV shows and sports events which are less affected by time shifting since viewers want to see the program as it is broadcast.

However, according to Nielson Research marketers may be focusing their efforts on the wrong type of shows. Scripted shows such as The O.C are reaching the largest PVR audiences with only a small amount of the content being time shifted.

It looks like advertisers are going to have to have another rethink.

TiVo is continuing to roll out new advertising methods on its PVRs and the latest advert appears on the "Delete this recording?" option. This has now gone live as we can see pictured right (Via PVRBlog).

I'm not too sure what to make of this; the adverts are not too intrusive and appear out of the way, while at the same time you are paying for the TiVo service so why should you have to see adverts.

With PVRs threatening the regular advertising model new innovative adverts that are not intrusive (unlike normal TV ads) are probably a good thing. However, in this case the money goes straight to TiVo and not the content producers, so while TiVo and the advertisers are happy, the content creators are left out.

As Brad pointed out yesterday the online advertising agency Cheap TV Spots doused flames for a non existent rumor yesterday when the company announced it was not interested in buying TiVo.

In the company's press release stated:
"Fast-growing online TV advertising agency Cheap TV Spots (http://www.cheap-tv-spots.com) responded to blog speculation regarding a possible buy of TiVo. "Cheap TV Spots has no immediate plans to acquire TiVo," said company president, Ann Clark. "TiVo is actually a better M&A target for Yahoo, Google or ASK.com. We are not
ruling out partnering with TiVo or another DVR provider."

As you are probably aware any company that is in acquisition talks or rumored to be partnering with TiVo will get a lot of press attention. Following the press release two Wall St. news companies, Briefing.com and FlyOnTheWall, took the bait.

The fact is that there had been no acquisition rumors before Cheap TV Spots released the press release.

This is simply a marketing ploy from Cheap TV Spots to get some link love for its website (as a result I won't be linking to its site or the press release).

Interestingly this is not the first time the company has done such a thing. In October the company dispelled rumors it was in talks to acquire rival Spot Runner.

Nice try Cheap TV Spots, but it doesn't wash with us.

Despite this being an obvious ploy to us and many others TiVo was listed as a hot stock up 15 cents to $5.49 on Monday on double its normal trading volume. The graph below clearly shows a jump.



The rumor was covered by the New York Post, the online newspaper asked TiVo about the rumor. A TiVo spokeswoman said: "Cheap TV Spots? We've never even heard of them."

Cheap TV Spots, a company that pretty much nobody has heard of is either woefully out of touch, or brilliant. I'm not sure which. With the recent round of speculation that TiVo would make a nice Christmas present for a larger company, (Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft, perhaps?), Cheap TV has gone and put out a press release to squash the rumors that they might be buying TiVo. The thing is, there's never been such a rumor.

As Davis Freeberg points out, there really haven't been many blog posts written about Cheap TV Spots at all. I feel a little guilty for giving them any attention at all right now. But I'm willing to give credit to any company that puts out a press release that in its first paragraph suggests that "TiVo is actually a better... target for Yahoo, Google, or ASK.com."

Of course the rest of the release then just goes on to toot the company's horn.

So right now, I'd like to take the opportunity to announce that PVR Wire has no plans to buy TiVo or any other PVR-related company. For now.

After several false starts, it looks like Nielsen is finally getting ready to roll out minute-by-minute ratings data in April, including, for the first time, commercial ratings.

Apparently network execs aren't thrilled with the April 24th date set by Nielsen, because it doesn't give them much time to analyze the data before the May upfront period. That's when they announce shows fro the upcoming season and begin negotiations for commercial rates.

Nielsen has not yet announced a method for tracking commercial ratings in homes where viewers use PVRs to time-shift their viewing.

At a meeting with Clients this week, Nielsen said that almost half of PVR users watch prime-time TV in "playback mode," while advertisers usually by air-time based on the assumption that their commercials will be seen "live."