大象传媒

This is not going to work. First of all TiVo does not have enough users to have a big impact. More importantly, people shop on the internet for good bargains. I love Amazon and it has some nice prices, but they are clearly not always the best. Amazon will not take off on TiVo because people can not compare prices and find better bargains.

I agree with Jary316, the main advantage of internet shopping lies with quick access price comparisons.
An option to buy tied to just one retailer, however large and however varied in it's products cannot give you the best deal every time.
Most experienced web-shoppers will know this and I think avoid the TiVo/Amazon system, if they have it at all.

I do however like the general idea, just maybe not in its present form.
Probably aimed at those who do not have the expertise to shop around on-line themselves.

"Tivo?"

And this will have precisely how much impact on people in the UK?

Er that would be "zero"

More US-centric irrelevance.

Well this is the American TV system for you.

I for one am glad to Tivo failed to take off in the UK. If we had this on Sky for example, I'd want justification to pay ANY kind of subscription fee. Its bad enough we have subs AND ads, this would just kill it off completely.

Make no mistake, Sky will be watching this and if the scheme makes money they will copy it.

Hell, this is the same Sky that ripped off Tivo's PVR concept (Tivo made the mistake of contracting Sky to do their UK marketing), and claim credit for it.

I still use a Tivo, and despite it's age and lack of multi-channel recording, it's still a better and more reliable machine than Sky+ has been.

That said the idea of adverts during shows is terrible. Product placement can be annoying enough, but I hate the thought of having my viewing disturbed outside of the normal commercials, which are bad enough on their own. I would expect however that unless the machines come with an option to switch the feature off, they won't sell enough to make the scheme a success.

What surprises me is how often ad revenue is proffered as the answer by new media companies, as if it was a bottomless well.

In difficult conditions ad agencies complain that advertising budgets are one of the first things to be cut. So apparently what is happening is a fight for a slice of a diminishing resource.

It's contended that there is a major trend for switching ad spend out of TV and on to the net. This is the trend that the ISPs are hoping to ride with the help of Phorm et al, who are predicting big profits.

I should like to know how media buyers are making their decisions and on what data, other than being dazzled by the possibilities of the technology.

It seems to me that the net is the most advertising resistant of media, as consumers quickly wise up to how easy it is to block the majority of ads. Not only that, with ISPs throttling traffic, they realise that Flash(y) ads are using up the bandwidth they are paying for.

This is where Google have it so right with the ads on their search pages, the only ads I'm ever likely to click through, unobtrusive, relevant and low bandwidth. But they aren't suitable for mass consumer messages about everyday purchases.

To me it makes sense to continue to use TV as the major brand driver and supplement it with what the net does well and that is not high resolution, full frame rate, 30 second advertising spots for the foreseeable future.

Regrettable as it may be, what Tivo are doing makes sense to them. They may be 'over there' but what's sauce for the goose is always sauce for the gander.

Right now there are meetings going on over here dreaming up ever more devious ways to grab a slice of the ad budget and slap us upside the head with it, while making us pay for the privilege.

With all due respect, TV talk shows are mainly (but not entirely) subtle infomercials for the guests. It is virtually unheard of for a celebrity to appear on a talk show without being there to promote their newest book/movie/TV series/etc., or to try to clean up their image after doing something they regret (caughting caught) doing. I don't think enough people realize this.

I don't mind this, nor do I mind commercials as someone has to pay for the broadcast. Besides, some advertisements are quite entertaining, plus it is good sometimes to have a break when watching TV to go to the bathroom or fix a snack.

However, I do find the volume of commercials excessive on some programs so I will skip them if I'm watching a show I have recorded.

The broadcasters and advertisers have brought the widespread annoyance with TV commercials on themselves by going overboard with it.

Irritating as TV ads and product placement are, we viewers have to realise that this is still the pre-eminent means of paying for teveision shows to be made. That is precisely why (particularly in the States) programmes are cancelled because of low ratings.

An interesting trend in USTV over the last few years has been the number of shows cancelled after just a few episodes (Firefly probably being the most famous). The squeeze on advertising budgets means that networks can't afford to give a show time to build an audience, simply because advertisers cannot commit their increasingly limited TV budget to a low rated show ... even a good show that may prove successful over time.

This is just as true in the UK (with Sky+) as it is in the USA, just less pronounced as our population is only just really getting to grips with the kind of choice available to US TV consumers for years.

Like it or not, the TV companies have to find ways to persuade advertisers to part with their money, otherwise TV production budgets go down, meaning fewer shows of lower quality, more repeats and (God forbid) more reality television.

Early in the days of the Internet, advertising were surprised that the process "clicking through", i.e. clicking on adverts we found on websites, was very much less popular than they hoped. Advertisers had to develop all sorts of ingenious ways to get to us, while we install ever more resiliant pop-up blockers, etc. In short, most people don't like adverts, or at least the feeling they're being pressured into buying something, so I don't see this new "click to buy" tool being that successful. Though it may have a future on MTV.

Personally I'm greatly amused by the latest campaign for a Tivo-like system in the UK, featuring a number of "celebrities" extoling the virtues of the machine. None of them mentions its most popular function, that of being able to skip the commercials.

Let's just hope this inadvertantly brings the PVR hero that is TiVo back to the UK and we have a competitor to the Sky+ propaganda elephant.

As for the concept itself, sounds like a good idea, as long as it doesn't intrude on either your viewing, or the programme, then what's the harm?

1. This is very relevant to the UK market. TV and Internet providers are constantly looking at ways of maximising their income - even to the extent they are willing to break the law as has recently been shown in the Phorm debacle.

What happens in the US eventually happens here - so if it's on TiVo you can bet your bottom dollar it'll be built into digital cable services here in the UK soon. Anyone thinking this is a US issue is in for a shock.

2. Some posters are assuming their own prudent shopping habits apply to everyone. The fact of the matter is more likely to be that even if sales are tied to one outlet such as Amazon, there will be a huge customer base more than happy to forgo a potential few pence savings on a book or DVD for the convenience of a one click purchase. You only have to look as far as the shopping channels for proof in that - these channels are immensely succesfull selling people products they don't need and could find cheaper elsewhere.

There's a huge convenience factor in this new idea that will be very attractive to consumers, the pay off will be in how obtrusive the system is. If it breaks you out of film for example, there would be an uproar - but if it's a small brief logo during an interview, that could be quite handy.

@AlistairGD - no break out, no logo. It's just an additional item in the menu that is already shown at the end of the recording/programme - "Delete this programme", "Do nothing" and now "Buy the CD/DVD/Book/whatever".

This blog entry is inaccurate and based on assumptions, painting a grim picture of a feature that might be useful to some TiVo viewers and which certainly isn't a big deal for the rest.

Of course other PVR manufacturers (I'm thinking of you, Sky...) may eventually implement the same concept in a far more intrusive way, but TiVo have gone on record to say that they have no intention of implementing features that are annoying or intrusive for their customers.