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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
11. Evaluation of Broadcast
Media
PVRs May Change the Future
of Television Advertising
How much would you be willing to pay to never
have to watch another TV commercial, be able to
automatically record shows with your favorite
actor, or record more than one show at a time?
How about being able to leave the room in the
middle of an exciting football game to answer
the door or go to the bathroom and, when you
return, being able to resume watching the game
from the point where you left off? These capabilities
are no longer the dreams of TV viewers. They
are now realities thanks to new consumer electronic
devices called personal video recorders, or
PVRs (also called digital video recorders), which
hit the market a few years ago. And while they
may be the answer to TV viewers’ dreams, many
argue that PVRs may be the television and advertising
industries’ worst nightmare.
Two companies, TiVo Inc. and SONICblue, Inc.,
are marketing PVRs, which are better known by
the brand names TiVo and ReplayTV. The devices
digitally record television shows and save them
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
on a massive multigigabyte internal hard drive
that can hold 10 to 30 hours of programming.
Using a phone line, the PVRs download program
schedules that pop up on the screen, and, with
some simple programming through a remote
control, consumers can click on shows they want
to watch rather than punching in times and
channels. The devices also allow users to create
“channels” based on their own search criteria,
such as types of shows or names of entertainers.
The TiVo device even makes recommendations
based on how users have rated other programs.
PVRs also allow users to rewind or pause in the
middle of a live broadcast while it keeps recording,
resume watching from the point where they
stopped, and then skip ahead to catch up to the
live broadcast. And among the devices’ most
anticipated, and controversial, features are buttons
that allow users to skip past commercials at
superhigh speeds. SONICblue recently announced
plans to market a new version of ReplayTV with
features that will automatically skip commercials
in recorded programs. Both TiVo and SONICblue
hope that these features, along with the ease of
using the devices, will win over consumers, many
of whom have given up trying to master their
VCRs. If consumers do embrace the new technology,
the result will be TV on demand, which will
have a dramatic impact on television advertising.
Television shows have always been shown in
time slots, with viewers watching whatever is on
at that particular time. Advertisers are used to
this world of synchronous viewing and buy ad
time based on Nielsen ratings, which measure
how many people are watching a show at a given
moment. However, the digital PVRs make it very
easy for TV viewers to watch shows at any time
they choose. Watching TV will be more like surfing
the Web than viewing a movie. This may
reduce the influence of the Nielsen ratings and