Remember the link to Swivel Search that showed up on the pause screen with the new 9.3.2 update for the Series2 recently? Yeah, that was the ground work for TiVo’s real intention – ads. Interestingly the new 11.0 release for HD units lacks this new feature, though I fully expect it to show up in 11.1 or the like. I suspect it was developed in parallel and it was too late to roll it into 11.0 without delaying the release, and they needed it out there for Netflix.
I’m sure this move, putting ads on the pause screen, will upset some users. I mean, there are always those who dislike all forms of advertising, so any ads upset that group. But beyond the hardcore ad haters, I think a number of more moderate users are getting a little annoyed by ‘ad creep’ as advertising finds its way into more and more areas of the TiVo interface.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about this. I understand TiVo needing to boost revenue, and I’m in favor of TiVo becoming profitable and sticking around. I also understand advertisers looking for new ways to reach DVR users who are increasingly skipping commercials – myself included. At the same time I’m a bit concerned about TiVo diluting their famed UI with ads, but for now I have some faith that they’re not going to tart things up like a lot of cable boxes which look like a bad MySpace page. (I was going to go with GeoCities, but most of my readers probably don’t remember them.)
I don’t really use pause very much, so I doubt this will impact me personally (and not at all right now as I mainly use my S3), but when I due pause a program it is generally to get a better look at something on the screen. So as long as I can clear the overlay this probably won’t bother me. Of course, the rest of the time I pause it is so I can leave the room, so I don’t care what’s on screen anyway. I actually mind this implementation less than some of the existing advertising.
The ads inserted into groups in the Now Playing List still grate on me. I don’t see them a lot since I don’t tend to let recordings build up to create a folder in the first place, but there is something about the NPL that is my area, while the rest of the UI isn’t as personal. It is emotional and not logical, but whenever I go into a folder and see an ad lurking at the bottom I just kind of roll my eyes and make a point of not clicking on it.
I don’t think anything is going to stop the addition of ads to the TiVo interface, it is too important to TiVo’s business and survival. So I’m not going to rail against it too hard, I pick my battles and I don’t see this as a winnable one. And I still feel that TiVo is leaps and bounds better than other DVRs, so I don’t believe there is a viable alternative. I’d sooner live with these ads than use another DVR, and I’m sure TiVo knows that as well. Still, at times I wonder if I may be a boiling frog.
What do you think about this new ad addition?
The press release:
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