I'll admit it. I'm a TiVo fanboy. I'm the guy who's always prattling on and on about it to friends, but it has changed the way I watch TV.
I'm not talking about skipping through bad commercials. I actually watch them if they're amusing, or skillfully done, sort of as a reward to the company and ad agency for putting some creativity into their pitch.
We've covered TiVo more than once in the magazine, and it seems the company is always just on the brink of taking the world by storm.
The company hit a major snag this week, when a Barron's story predicted the device may be cast aside in the next few years. This sent the company's stock price reeling, and cost the company quite a bit of market capitalization.
Now, most everyone who has a TiVo loves it and can't help telling their friends, which should, in turn, create the very kind of buzz Linda Tischler wrote about in the August feature Buzz Without Bucks.
So why isn't the TiVo sweeping the market? What is it that TiVo is doing wrong that won't let them get over that hump?
They're just not putting that buzz to work for them.
I'd be interested to hear theories and strategies from other contributors as well as our readers, who can talk back to us by clicking the "Add Comment" tag just below this and all other posts, for that matter.
Related Stories: | Topics:Technology, technology + computers, TiVo Inc., Media, Advertising, Linda Tischler, Barron's Magazine |
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Recent Comments | 2 Total
August 13, 2003 at 11:38pm by gregory
I think they are trying some. Haven't some of their recent promotions had special deals for telling your friends about it? I actually think they need to do a little more advertising for it in general.
I think the other issue is that it is a hard product to describe to people. While tech savvy people clue into its usefulness, folks like my parents don't as easily. I have friends who recently got an older TiVo from someone who had upgraded to a new one. They'd seen mine before, so were familiar with it, but they said they really didn't fully appreciate it till they'd had it for a week. And now they say they couldn't live without it.
August 18, 2003 at 12:58pm by Ian Ybarra
It is clear that the wonder of TiVo cannot be described in a standard 30-second commercial or through other interruption direct marketing media. Remember Optiva, makers of Sonicare? They had the same problem. Inc. magazine reported that Optiva only gained about 10 sales from the distribution of 10,000+ credit card bill inserts. However, infomercials worked well for Optiva, and although TiVo has run a few, they were exclusively through DirecTV. And that means millions of customers (like me) still haven't seen exactly how TiVo works.
Strangers really warmed up to the idea of paying $100 to Optiva for a toothbrush when it was recommended by the dental care authority they trusted most--their dentists. I realize the cable guy may not be the best advocate for TiVo, but there are many people like Kevin O'Donovan who get excited about proclaiming the benefits of TiVo to their friends, family, and the thousands of readers of the best business magazine's blog! I think TiVo should use these "bees" to throw high-tech Tupperware parties.
To change the way people watch television, it will take more than a, "Hey, I see you've got a TiVo," and a, "Yeah, my girlfriend bought it for me. It's really awesome!" If a week's use will make people say they can't live without TiVo, then the company must commit to getting them to use it for a week. And the TiVo Tupperware parties would probably cut that week down to a few days. Just as people fell in love with the way their teeth were sonic-cleaned in the dentist's office, they would marvel at the way their friends use their TiVo's to zip through commercials, or as in Kevin's case, choose to watch a few out of the goodness of their hearts.