Exploring the end of television as we know it, and what lies ahead. (2 of 2)
Read part one here.
How did this TiVo-lution evolve? It’s a complex tale powered by churn, change and culture. I can’t cover that all here. Instead, I’m asking how TiVo got to the tipping point of being so "e-fluential" -- to use our own industry’s jargon? And, has it "jumped the shark" with its latest announcements about ad tags?
Sure, TiVo distributes one of the hottest products on the home entertainment scene. Yes, it has been mentioned on Oprah and Leno and even features in a subplot in "Sex in the City." Granted it’s incorporated in other manufacturers' set-top boxes, within the US and beyond. But it’s still a wonder to me how fast its name morphed into a commodity, synonymous with the category it created -- like Xerox or Kleenex or Kool-Aid. And a bigger mystery is how TiVo dominated the interactive scene this year despite losing millions of dollars.
FIT -- Friends of TiVo
2004 is TiVo’s biggest year yet -- two million subscribers and a world of influence. And TiVo had a little help from its friends. Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction spotlighted TiVo’s audience research capabilities, and FCC Chairman Powell’s public proclamation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later that same month of January was more powerful than any flack’s message. Unprompted during a question and answer session he announced, “My favorite product that I got for Christmas (2003) is TiVo.” As if that weren't enough praise, Powell added, “TiVo is God’s Machine” a phrase that earned headlines around the world.
Start with the admiration from Oprah and other celebrities. Then, throw in the growing blogging phenomenon, where early adopters garner cult status with their insider news and views and delve into the underbelly, as Linux mavericks play hack-the-TiVo to its next level of potential. A powerful mix, but the mix is just part of the formula powering the ‘TiVo-lution’ this year. It doesn’t include the official marketing and promotional efforts of the firm itself, along with those shiny iPod incentives.
At the start of this year, in a press release announcing the election of two top advertising industry leaders to TiVo’s Board of Directors, TiVo’s Chairman and CEO Mike Ramsey reiterated one of his firm’s goals: “TiVo has made a strategic commitment to revolutionizing television advertising in the world of DVRs and on-demand television,” he said. He went on to introduce the heavyweight duo of Charles Fruit, SVP, Worldwide Media and Alliances for The Coca-Cola Company and Joe Uva, President and CEO of OMD Worldwide, a major media buying firm.
Fruit is later quoted as saying that “TiVo has revolutionized the way people watch television." He believes “the company has also provided the industry an incredibly powerful, new way to deliver branded entertainment, thereby defining a new era in the way we can reach out to and build relationships with consumers.” In recent releases, the firm talks about the importance of "couch commerce" and transactional programming options beyond its current Showcases.
Beyond BIG (Boxes in the Garage)
If you search back into TiVo’s history, press releases, and even contractual agreements with partners (many are accessible online), you see their plan unfolding. When I first saw TiVo during its launch at CES, I was impressed, but I thought, "no way; they’ll never get beyond the early adopter." In those days, many gurus labeled it just another BIG (box in the garage) where old Atari systems and antiquated cable set-top devices go to rest.
My take on TiVo and rival Replay was “Oh, not another box.” Please call up those cable guys and bundle with them. (Digression: Don’t want to get too chummy with what could be your potential competition? Then do what I’ve recommended to many new devices and box developers since the early days of the much-lauded and now-forgotten TV-Answer set-top -- stamp on a Coca-Cola logo and use it as a branded incentive, an idea whose time is center stage again with the roll-out of the U2 branded iPod. Now it looks like TiVo is doing much more than many of us imagined.
DRM tripped up Replay’s potential, but there are many lessons to learn from TiVo’s venture into new marketing, media, content, commerce and personalization, not the least of which are the many rings evolving around the DVR space of advancing privacy issues and social networking as the consummate CRM tool.
The end of television -- as we’ve known it -- is a certainty. Thinking “beyond the box” is no longer a trite expression but rather a mantra for the wireless Eplex -- the new electronic media mix of consumer creation and customization.
Rise of Custom-tainment
Back in 1992 I coined the term “Custom-tainment” and it still holds up as we make room for the third, fourth and even fifth screens in our lives, the first being TV, the second computer/Internet, the third wireless/handheld, the fourth broadband or VOD and the fifth, public space, electronic signage and projection media. You’ve heard of ubiquitous computing -- now, make way for ubiquitous media.
TiVo is propelling us marketers into what Sci-Fi fans call the "near-future." As we head forward, TiVo may provide an imperfect paradigm for the agency of the future. Let’s try to work together to lessen the future shock and forestall the Future Schlock of the hall of advertising reflected so forebodingly in "Minority Report."
Joyce Schwarz has been involved in launching emerging entertainment and technology since 1990, she heads JCOM, a consulting firm for new product launches located in Marina Del Rey, California. Her background includes executive posts in all aspects of traditional media including magazines, newspapers, advertising, public relations promotion and direct response. She is a former exec at Foote Cone & Belding and has worked with more than 100 Fortune 500 brands. Joyce was one of the analysts for Web-TV’s agency and she helped launch one of the first PC/TVs at CES, Chicago in 1994. She is eager to learn what readers think about her iMedia articles.