itvt

–Launches “Pause Menu” Advertising Capability
–Launches Mobile-Optimized Web Site
–Teams with Domino’s Pizza on Tcommerce Service
–Increases Sample Size of its StopWatch Ratings Service
–Supports Streaming of Netflix Movies on its Platform

DVR vendor/service provider, TiVo, has generated a fair amount of news over the past few weeks:

• The company has launched a new advertising capability, which it calls “Pause Menu,” and which is designed to grab the attention of fast-forwarding viewers who, TiVo says, “consume TV differently and often do not watch ads the way they are traditionally delivered.” According to TiVo, the new capability allows advertisers to reach audiences with targeted product messages displayed within the pause screen of a live or time-shifted program; the company claims that the new feature can be “particularly impactful” for traditional TV and non-television advertisers that have product integration or a significant media investment in a specific TV show. Alternatively, the company says, advertisers can opt to “cast a wider net” by targeting entire genres or keywords within a program description. The new Pause Menu screen also provides broadband-connected TiVo subscribers with a direct link to TiVo’s Swivel Search feature, allowing them to find program information, and related shows and downloads. Promotions on the Pause Menu are displayed as a single line of text, with another line linking the viewer directly to Swivel Search. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is currently using the TiVo Pause Menu to promote the DVD and Blu-ray release of the children’s movie, “Horton Hears a Who”; in addition, TiVo says, Mercedes-Benz USA plans to use the new capability to promote its new GLK SUV early next year, via a campaign targeting football viewers. “With the number of DVR homes on the rise, TV advertisers are facing a very serious commercial avoidance issue that must be addressed now,” TiVo’s VP of marketing and product management, David Sandford, said in a prepared statement. “The launch of Pause Menu moves us another step closer to achieving our goal of providing a comprehensive suite of interactive advertising solutions designed to help the TV industry reach viewers in a DVR world. It’s important to note that our interactive ad solutions have been so well received because they are non-intrusive and actually enhance the viewing experience. For example, our research tells us that linking the Pause Menu to our popular Swivel Search feature gets very positive viewer reaction. This creates value for viewers and effectiveness for advertisers–a win, win situation.”
• The company has launched a free, mobile phone-optimized Web site that allows both TiVo subscribers and non-subscribers to browse, search and discover TV shows, regardless of mobile platform, carrier or browser. Dubbed TiVo Mobile and located at m.tivo.com, the site can be accessed via any Internet-enabled phone through any network, the company says. Among other things, the site allows TiVo subscribers to schedule recordings on Series2 or Series3 TiVo boxes remotely from their mobile, and to search for programs by actor, title, director and keyword. It also offers “Daily Recommendations” and “Most Popular” lists, and, like TiVo’s recommendations engine, an “If you like this…” tool to help users find new shows. TiVo Mobile, which was built through a partnership with mobile application development agency, Mobui, is currently in beta and will be available “on a wide scale” in a few weeks, TiVo says. “TiVo started out making television a more convenient, personal experience, and this is the next step to give television lovers total control over their media,” TiVo’s VP of product marketing, Jim Denney, said in a prepared statement. “Whether you are standing in line at the bank or talking about a new show with friends at dinner, you can now find and record shows whenever, wherever, a perfect tool for everyone.”
• In a November 18th regulatory filing with the SEC, the company revealed that it had begun a plan to reduce its overheads, “primarily through a reduction in headcount.” It characterized the move as an attempt to manage “the challenges presented by a difficult economic climate and a rapidly evolving retail consumer market.” It said that it expects to incur pre-tax charges of around $1 million, as a result of the headcount reduction, primarily for employee-related severance benefits and out-placement costs; that “substantially all” of these charges will result in cash expenditures; and that the charges will be recorded in its fiscal Q4, 2009 results (note: the company’s fiscal year ends January 31st).
• The company has teamed with Domino’s Pizza on a new tcommerce service that allows TiVo subscribers with broadband-connected boxes to use their TV sets to order a pizza for delivery or pick-up, and also to track delivery timing (note: their TiVo box pauses the program they were watching before they placed their order). “We are confident that teaming with TiVo on this novel, easy, and convenient way to order pizza right from the TV will be very well received by our customers,” Rob Weisberg, VP of precision and print marketing at Domino’s Pizza, said in a prepared statement. “This is the first step in the future of customer interactions with the brands they seek to engage with and buy from. This is the first time in history that the ‘on-demand’ generation will be able to fully experience couch commerce by ordering pizza directly through their television set. You’ll see a television ad for Domino’s and you’ll click ‘I want it’ through your remote. In about 30 minutes, your pizza will show up at your door.” According to TiVo, subscribers can access their Domino’s Pizza order from various advertising entry points on the TiVo user interface, including Gold Star Sponsorship, Program Placement, and Interactive Tags in live TV spots, and through Music, Photos, Products & More by clicking on “Order Your Domino’s Pizza Now.” Subscribers can set up a user name and password on Dominos.com, so that each time they use their TiVo remote to place an order, they can log in with a simple account number. Or, if they prefer, they can enter their delivery address and build their pizza directly form their TV set by selecting the type of crust, toppings and sauces they want. The new service is offered to subscribers at no additional charge. TiVo also allows subscribers to use their remotes to purchase products from Amazon.com and to purchase tickets through Fandango.
• The company says it has expanded the scope of its StopWatch ratings service by increasing the sample size from which the service derives its anonymous, second-by-second audience research data from 20,000 to 100,000 TiVo subscribers. It claims that, as a result, the service now derives its ratings data from a sample that is 25 times larger than is currently used by any panel-based measurement service. This increased sample size, it says, dramatically decreases the margin of error and allows it to produce stable ratings measurements across lower-viewership cable channels that are currently unmeasured by the industry currency, including Sprout, Noggin, Planet Green and Sleuth. (Note: other advantages that TiVo claims for StopWatch over traditional panel-based services include 1) second-by-second granularity, enabling ratings for each commercial; 2) a national footprint covering all signal sources, including digital and analog cable, satellite and over-the-air; 3) the ability to monitor both live and time-shifted viewing, and thus to track commercial fast-forwarding; and 4) the fact that it derives data from people’s regular TV watching, eschewing paid panelists and obtrusive metering.) “We are especially pleased with the enthusiasm being generated by the ratings we’re providing for previously unmeasured networks,” Todd Juenger, general manager of TiVo Audience Research & Measurement, said in a prepared statement. “In this day and age, where highly fragmented Internet audiences are being measured click-by-click, it is unacceptable to have television networks with hundreds of thousands of viewers with no source of measurement.” According to TiVo, the StopWatch service now tracks ratings for 66 nationally distributed, ad-supported networks, and covers all nationally distributed programming and commercials aired from 5:00AM to 11:30PM. It derives data from a daily, aggregate, anonymous, stratified random sample, from which a second-by-second “clickstream” of behavior and viewership is collected and assessed; and offers data for Total Viewing, Live Viewing, Timeshifted Viewing, Program Ratings, Commercial Ratings and a Commercial Viewership Index (note: it uses ad occurrence data from TNS Media Intelligence to identify commercials). Companies that subscribe to the service (and to TiVo’s companion PowerWatch service, which features a volunteer panel of 20,000 households and which offers demographic segmentations) include Omnicom, CBS, Interpublic, Starcom, Zenith Optimedia, Carat USA, MPMA, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Media IQ and Euro RSCG New York.
• The company has signed a deal with Morgans Hotel Group to bring TiVo service to all the guest rooms in the latter’s newest property, the Mondrian in South Beach. The service will allow Mondrian guests to record, pause and rewind live TV; to schedule recordings; and to use WishList searches to find programs with their favorite actors or directors. They will also be able to record two shows at the same time, while watching a third, previously recorded show. “When traveling, schedules can be unpredictable and television choices in hotels are typically limited, making it far more difficult to watch your favorite programs…until now,” Joe Miller, TiVo’s SVP of consumer sales and distribution, said in a prepared statement. “For the first time in any hotel, guests of the new Mondrian in South Beach can enjoy the TiVo service right in their rooms, so they know that after enjoying dinner in Miami their favorite show will be waiting for them when they get back to their rooms.”
• The company has teamed with Netflix to enable instant streaming of the latter’s movies and TV episodes through its TiVo Series3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL boxes. The service, which is offered at no additional charge to TiVo subscribers who also subscribe to Netflix, currently provides access to around 12,000 movies and TV episodes, a small number of which are available in HD. In order to use the service, TiVo subscribers must first go to netflix.com and add titles to their Netflix Instant Queue: the titles are automatically displayed on the subscribers’ TV’s and are available to watch instantly. They are streamed from Netflix to the TV through the TiVo DVR via a wired or wireless broadband connection. Subscribers can use their TiVo remote to browse their Instant Queue, make selections on the TV screen, and read synopses and rate movies. They also have the option of pausing, fast-forwarding, rewinding and restarting their selections. “With so much talk focusing on the economy these days, this partnership makes more sense than ever because it brings people more movies at home, offering substantially more entertainment options than cable or satellite,” Tara Maitra, general manager and VP of content services at TiVo, said in a prepared statement. “TiVo offers consumers everything they need from just one box. Not only great content from Netflix, but also movies from The Walt Disney Studios and Amazon, music from Rhapsody, videos from YouTube and even pictures from Picasa Web Albums and Photobucket. And that’s all in addition to TiVo’s core functionality that made us a favorite in the first place. It adds up to a one-of-a-kind value.”
• Thanks to a previously announced deal with Internet movie service, Jaman.com, TiVo subscribers with broadband-connected boxes can now download a range of foreign and independent movies from that service. Jaman’s line-up of movies–which are priced from $1.99 (note: a number of its titles are available to download for free)–includes such titles as “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” “Supersize Me,” “Oil and Ice” and “Chokher Bali.” In addition, thanks to a previously announced deal with CinemaNow and Disney-ABC, broadband-equipped TiVo subscribers can now download a range of Disney movies, priced at $2.99 each.
• The company has teamed with Germany’s Nero on an offering, called Nero Liquid TV/TiVo PC, which, for the first time, makes TiVo service available on laptop and desktop computers. According to the companies, the new offering allows end-users to watch and pause live TV on their desktop, record their favorite shows directly to their hard drive, transfer shows between computers, export shows to the iPod and the PlayStation Portable, and burn shows to DVD. The offering also supports such standard TiVo features as WishList searches, Season Pass recordings, TiVo KidZone and TiVo Suggestions. “Nero has done a superb job of bringing the TiVo experience to the PC, and has done so in a way that lives up to the rich TiVo legacy,” TiVo president and CEO, Tom Rogers, said in a prepared statement. “To be able to extend the features of TiVo to a new platform without compromising the integrity of what has made TiVo such a revolutionary product is a significant achievement, one we know both new and old fans of TiVo will love.” According to TiVo and Nero, the new offering can be installed on any PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista, and installation requires “no technical expertise.” It includes a TiVo PC remote, a TV tuner card, and an IR “blaster” (creates a wireless, infrared connection between the cable or satellite set-top box and the PC). It also comes with a one-year subscription to TiVo’s service. It is currently available in retail in the US and Canada for an MSRP of $199. In addition, a software-only downloadable version is being offered in the US, Canada and Mexico for $99. After the first year, customers will have to pay an annual TiVo service subscription of $99.
• The company has received a payment of $105 million from DISH Network as a result of its recent victory in its so-called “Time Warp” patent dispute with that company.