TiVo sees if you skip those ads

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Sunday, February 4, 2007 | David Lazarus

[Reeses]

Because Tivo plays commercials in fast-motion that requires 100% attention I sometimes stop and watch commercials with attractive women. The ad agencies may be adding images that play well at fast-forward speed. I'm not sure I want someone noting what and how many times I back up on something.

[Sherman Logan]

More than a few subscribers probably thought later that this wasn't the sort of thing they wanted stored in some corporate database.

Is there anybody out there who would really be horribly embarassed by this?

[big'ol_freeper]

TiVO is one of the greatest inventions ever! Commercials? What commercials?

[GSlob]

I've figured out how to beat them at their own game: I do not even have a TV, and am not sure what a TiVo is [I gather it is some kind of a video recorder]. This approach utterly defeats their attempts to pour their garbage down my way. As a pro bono service, I am sharing the recipe.

[Egon]

...which commercials people are skipping.

Uhm, that'd be ALL of them.

[Gman]

I used to work for TiVo. Actually , they're just storing total stats - not individual unit stats to a specific user.

In fact - there will be a crew burning the midnight oil in Alviso, CA tonight at corporate compiling the numbers. Best tech company I ever worked for.

[Kozak]

I HATE it when I'm watching live and try to Tivo my way forward past the commercials.

[Egon]

I HATE it when I'm watching live and try to Tivo my way forward past the commercials.

I hate it almost as much when I'm watching the commercials, and my wife has to remind me that it's on TiVo.

[SShultz460]

It's the best thing ever for watching Sports. Start recording, go screw around with something else for 20 min, and watch with no commercials. If you get back to live, take another break!

[ReignOfError]

Because Tivo plays commercials in fast-motion that requires 100% attention I sometimes stop and watch commercials with attractive women. The ad agencies may be adding images that play well at fast-forward speed.

They've been doing that since the VCR days.

[nascarnation]

Amen brother
I've only had it for a year.
My adult daughter convinced me to get it.
I basically got the box for free (non HD).
On DirecTV it's only 6 bucks a month.
What a great value.

[BMIC]

How can you arive at total stats without there somewhere being a record of the individual stats from which they're accumulated? They may not be tracking and reporting on individuals routinely, but the data has to be out there somewhere to support the totals that they do report.

[sgtbono2002]

Given the opportunity I would skip all commercials.

[steveo]

TiVo sees if you skip those ads

Not if I have my phone unplugged!

[Old Professer]

It does seem to blur the line between real time and reality TV.

[Gman]

I guess a better way of saying it is that TiVo doesn't save individual DVR stats when they are compiling the totals.

[ReignOfError]

It's the best thing ever for watching Sports. Start recording, go screw around with something else for 20 min, and watch with no commercials. If you get back to live, take another break!

That's great for watching anything with a group. You can pause and talk about what you're watching without missing what happens next; it's more fun than a room full of people silently staring straight ahead.

[pabianice]

Geez, am I the only one who can program his VCR? I have a VCR on every TV and record what I want, when I want. VCRs are now $60 new and there's no monthly fee. I haven't seen a commercial since 1985.

[ReignOfError]

How can you arive at total stats without there somewhere being a record of the individual stats from which they're accumulated? They may not be tracking and reporting on individuals routinely, but the data has to be out there somewhere to support the totals that they do report.

Easily -- the records aren't flagged with a unique identifier. Imagine a turnstile that counts the number of people entering a subway station but doesn't record their identity, or a stack of letters without a return address, so you can count who said what without linking the opinions to individuals.

Not that I trust TiVo when they say they're not collecting individual stats -- I'd need an independent audit of their source code and database to be reassured.

[GregoryFul]

Actually, I think TiVo is causing advertisers to become more creative, and interesting. I used to like many European commercials, many were downright funny. I see more of that appearing on US TV.