TiVo’s New Ad Blitz Focuses On Personalization
May 1st, 2007 Davis Posted in Marketing, Technology, Media, TV, Disclosure - I own stock in co. mentioned, VOD, TiVo |
Kidzone Sucks Hosted on ZooomrTiVo has launched a new ad campaign emphasizing the many different ways that you can personalize your TiVo. 
They’ve already uploaded a couple of the new commercials to YouTube and have also launched a website where they are encouraging users to share how TiVo is unique to them.
On the website, fans can upload photos of themselves and they will add a TiVo attenna to your picture 
I uploaded my own photo, but sadly it still says pending when I log in. Later, I received an email that said my profile was being “moderated”, so I’m not very optimistic of my chances of sneaking an upset Kidzone Davis past their ad agency. In all fairness though, I was going to title my profile Mom won’t give me the password to get out of KidZone, but there wasn’t a place to add it on my profile.
One of the concepts that I love about TiVo, is that even though all of our television feeds are so different, everyone still gets to see exactly what they want to watch. There are some people who would look at my Now Playing list and hate it, but because they are shows that I have personally told TiVo to record, it brings me more enjoyment then any Thursday night lineup ever could.
To help build buzz for their new campaign, TiVo has announced a a user generated contest where you can upload your own TiVo videos to YouTube, for a shot at winning a TiVo series 3 + a lifetime subscription + a 42″ plasma. The professionally produced TiVo ads are funny, but I will be more excited to see what shows up on YouTube. Never underestimate the power of collective intelligence. Already there are plenty of fan videos on the site, but with the added bonus of a series 3 at stake, I bet we see creativity step up another notch. I will be looking forward to watching the contest.
It’s hard to tell whether TiVo’s new message will resonate with consumers, but the campaign does do a good job of explaining the major differences between TiVo and their generic competitors. It’s hard to emphasize the more subtle advantages (like being able to stop at the right moment when you hit play), but TiVo continues to innovate and it’s good to see them showing off, all of their hard work.
May 2nd, 2007 at 3:11 pm
“The professionally produced TiVo ads are funny, but I will be more excited to see what shows up on YouTube. ”
Great. I haven’t seen my fill of Tivo Cast videos - of guys getting hit in the nuts. (rolling eyes)
Can we have something good? Like studio sanctioned full length trailers? My pocketbook would be happier too. Hint: stock flat-lined.
May 2nd, 2007 at 4:04 pm
The problem with TiVoCast isn’t the indie content, it’s that there isn’t enough. Personally, I think it’s funny to see guys get hit in the nuts, but believe me I understand how you wouldn’t like it. Some of Break’s stuff is too hardcore even for me and I’ve set that bar pretty low.
I think that TiVoCast will become a lot more relevant when users can upload any unprotected video from their computers onto their TiVo. This solves the content supply problem, but is less than ideal if you want to easily subscribe to a video blog or on going content.
A better solution for mainstream content would be nice, but Amazon is a start and frankly, I think TiVo is better selling ads, then trying to sell content.
The digital content game is a low margin business. They are trying to replace their lost DVD money by demanding a higher percentage of the revenues for a digital transaction.
I like that TiVo is one of the few content neutral (sort of) solutions that are out there and think that this is a huge asset.
TiVo has had darker days then these, but lately investors have shown very little faith. There are few near term catalysts and until the cable revenues start to kick in, the fast money will avoid it. Sooner or later, though the cable money will start to come in and then it will becomes a game of musical chairs. Right now, it’s hard for people to be very optimistic, but after the roller coaster that TiVo’s stock has seen, going flatline really isn’t all that bad.
May 3rd, 2007 at 3:52 pm
“but after the roller coaster that TiVo’s stock has seen, going flatline really isn’t all that bad.”
Yeah - I’m just a little bored with it. Sort of like watching guys get hit in the nuts. Unless you break it up with guys setting themselves on fire.
(did I just say that?)