TiVo Latest

It seems DVR company TiVo is about to partner with the Entertainment Weekly (Time Warner). This will mean that it’s users would have the ability to record shows that the magazine staff suggests, automatically. This new partnership is an effort by TiVo to differentiate itself, perhaps find a USP. Other DVRs offered by cable companies also have managed to find a big audience. However, the financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed. 

Meanwhile TiVo is doing very well financially. It’s Q2 results show an unexpected profit. There is bad news as well. TiVo lost more company owned subscribers than it gained in Q2. Positives and Negatives. Although the service and tech revenue for this period dipped by 5 percent its $0.03 per share profit was a surprise and perhaps a shock for Wall Street. Although an inventory reserve was tapped in this period, the company would certainly have been profitable even otherwise.

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TiVo Updates

The latest update on TiVo is that the most watched commercials for TiVo users are movie trailers. The most viewed commercial in May-June was the Hancock trailer starring Will Smith. The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight along with The Happening trailed it closely. The fifth most watched commercial was a Nike ad.

 Movie trailers have been recognized as powerful attention grabbers. Samsung’s Instinct smartphone was backed by The Ultimate Product Placement movie trailer ad campaign. This is probably responsible for the Instinct smartphone becoming the top selling handset of Best Buy.

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TiVo Weds Amazon

TiVo was once thought to be the end of television advertising. Now it is letting it’s viewers reach Amazon.com to shop as much as they want. TiVo is now entering the world of ecom via a new partnership with Amazon.com

TiVo has unveiled a new Product Purchase feature. This new partnership is a dream come true for some advertisers. This partnership will see TiVo displaying menu links to Amazons online store. Viewers can use their remote to buy books and CD’s featured on talk shows.

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TiVo: Users Watch Personally Relevant Ads!

One hates to be disturbed right in the middle of a program by an advertisement. So it was but natural that the arrival of DVRs would be hugely applauded. However it spelt doom for many as well. The biggest worry for broadcasters and advertisers when the TiVo came out was that people would buy a TiVo and skip all advertisements. While not everyone has a DVR today, it won’t be long before they do. Almost all pay-TV providers sell or lease DVRs these days. Owning a DVR is fast becoming a rage.

 But the idea that TiVo users might skip all commercials has been proven false. Indeed DVR users skip commercials but not all of them. A story released by Cnet recently reported that major chunks of TiVo users skip irrelevant ads but do stop to watch products that they might maybe buy. Like in the case of a household with children under the age of twelve, commercials about toys, computer games, child skincare products etc. are watched often. Households with adults over the age of fifty are more likely to watch commercials about hair restoration products, collectibles and art, political parties and foreign travel etc. This data was collected by TiVo from roughly 15,000 volunteer households in May. Read more