NEW YORK (Reuters) – TiVo Inc. on Monday introduced a feature that lets television viewers send personal information directly to advertisers when they see certain commercials, a move designed to open up TiVo’s technology to more markets.
More from [Yahoo!News] :
“The move underscores advertising’s importance to the future of TiVo, which comes only a few years after its introduction sent a chill through the ad sector with technology that let TV watchers skip over ads.”
“TiVo will now give advertisers direct access to viewers who are interested in their wares. The digital video recorder (DVR) maker said the upgrade lets some 1 million of its Series 2 stand-alone subscribers instantly respond to specially encoded advertising.”
TiVo says TV advertisers, facing dwindling TV audiences, are anxious for new ways to reach TV watchers and insist that viewers enjoy special ads.
Analyst April Horace of Hoefer & Arnett said that while the new system may pique the interest of other advertisers, there are lingering questions about how much bang-for-the-buck exists in making the more expensive long-form ads.
“It is a business model in a state of flux,” said Horace, who rates TiVo shares at “sell.” “They still have to prove to advertisers that there is better return on investment in that kind of long-form advertising. Who is to say that money isn’t better spent on ads on the Internet?”
Sterling said that for a typical long-form commercial on TiVo’s service, between 5 percent and 15 percent of users choose to view the ad. While that number may seem small, it’s big enough for TiVo to guarantee hundreds of thousands of viewers for ads that may be bypassed on network TV or radio.
Thoughts from [TechDirt]
“Somehow, this seems even less likely to get usage.
First, you have to convince people who are fast forwarding through a commercials that it’s interesting enough to not just zip through it.
Second, the ad has to be interesting enough to get people to want to “find out more” immediately, rather than just being satisfied from the info they get in the ad.
Third, the users have to understand that they can click through on the ad for more info (and then proactively do so).
Finally, the users have to be willing to send their personal data to some advertising firm in order to get on some advertising mailing list, while still hoping the data isn’t misused.
It seems like the type of thing that advertisers would love — but did anyone from TiVo stop to consider whether or not anyone would actually use such a feature?”
Also on [Engadget]