RSSTiVo Begins Testing of 'Pop-Up' Ads
By Nate Mook | Published March 29, 2005, 12:17 PM
Much to the chagrin of many of its users, TiVo has begun testing out a new form of advertising on its subscription digital video recorder service. The ads were designed to appear on the screen while a user is fast-forwarding through commercials, but some TiVo customers say ads are popping up during TV shows.
The new billboard-style advertisements, which TiVo calls "Icons" or fast forward tags, come as the company faces increasing pressure to become profitable. Although subscriber numbers recently topped 3 million, most of TiVo's customers are coming from its now-in-doubt partnership with DirecTV rather than sales of standalone units.
According to reports on the TiVo Community Forum, some users are encountering the ads when fast-forwarding or rewinding during a recorded or live program, not just commercials. TiVo representatives chalked up the occurrence to a bug, but many TiVo users are still fuming over what they characterized as an intrusive feature.
For its part, TiVo has downplayed the significance of the new advertisements. In a knowledgebase article on the company's Web site, TiVo says "You can still see the video in the background when fast-forwarding or rewinding. The new icons only cover a small portion of the screen and are only visible for a commercial that is branded to display one."
But some customers disagreed with that assertion. "It's really hard to tell when a commercial ends and the show begins with this banner dead center. I thinks it going to kill my ability to accurately click play when a show begins after a commercial break," one user wrote on the TiVo Community Forum.
"The problem with this implementation is that the primary focal point of the content is being blocked, which destroys one of the primary features of the TiVo software/service: The ability to FF through a commercial and start where the commercial ends. If I can't see where the commercial ends, I can't stop at the right spot," the user added.
Despite a negative response from users, TiVo is unlikely to drop the new advertisements. "The TiVo Service is supported in part by monthly or product lifetime subscription fees, and in part by advertising on the service (Showcases, TiVo Central Promos, Fast Forward Tags)," a TiVo representative explained on the Community Forums.
For now, only owners of newer TiVos will see the advertisements, as software version 7.1 is required. TiVo officials say the size and placement of the ads may change, and the company is currently testing the feature with only one advertiser.
I hate commercials on regular TV...now those with TiVo have to deal with them DURING the show...hehe...what a joke!!
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|It was only a matter of time.
Rush out and buy your broadcast flag-free pc HDTV cards now before they are no longer available.
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|At least now I got a one up on the TiVo users now. This is a bad idea on TiVo's part though.
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|If you can honestly say that monthly fees for the service do not cover the entire costs, and that clogging up televisions with even more advertising is the only way to cover the difference, then something is seriously messed up.
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|I gotta tell ya. My wife and I were just getting ready to buy a Tivo. Not any more. I'm going to go build my own DVR now and use all the free stuff off the internet to make it work.
Man did they just shoot themselves in the foot.
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|Yep. I am glad that I have a PVR through Dish Network... but if they started this, I would be off to MythTV in a heartbeat! (I am tempted as it is, just because it is Open Source!)
http://www.mythtv.org/
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|So the system displays commercials when people FF through commercials? Isn't that kind of contradictory? Wouldn't that be one of the best features in the first place? Virtually no commercials? I think this defeats that purpose. Great job guys...really.
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|This is the most stupidest and unfair (considering you are paying for this service) thing I have ever heard. Now you'll be needing a pop-up blocker for TiVo.
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|I have two TiVo boxes in my home via its partnership with DirecTV, I haven’t noticed these popups yet, but the first time they do when I’m watching a live or recorded TV show (not a commercial) I’ll cancel it in a Heartbeat.
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|I don't really understand how TiVo can't be "profitable" ... They are a subscription service ... wtf.
Ads are no way to go, though, seriously. The most annoying thing on the Intenret today is popups and those frickin' java or flash ads that pop up (and that you can't close). I've seriously resorted to blocking all flash animations of any kind, and when I go to a site that needs it to work you can click on it.
I hope TiVo doesn't go to this because I was really looking forward to purchasing one of these units in the near future ... I guess I'll get digital cable and get their DVR service instead. They get enough money from you as it is... they wouldn't dare doing that BS to you
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|Actually thats not true. Comcast just signed a deal with TiVo to use TiVo's boxes and technology. If they go to this they will loose me and thousands of others No ten's of thousands. Greed can do funny things to people.
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|I don't think Comcast is planning on using their boxes - just their software. I think they'd replace the current software on the motorola.
It would suck to have popups though - it's bad enough as is that we "pay" to watch commercials.
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|Comcast is encouraged by this technology. Here is a quote from a press release:
The potential of TiVo's interactive advertising technology is something Comcast emphasized earlier this month, in announcing that it will offer a TiVo-branded digital-video-recorder service to its subscribers by mid-2006.
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|And comcast is helping to develope the advertising can you believe it?
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