TIVO Reports Oscar Viewing Behavior

Ad Age ^ | March 25, 2003 | Hoag Levins

[KneelBeforeZod]

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The war-related comments by Oscar winners Michael Moore and Adrien Brody were the most replayed part Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast, according to TiVo, the personal video recorder technology company.

Most paused The single most paused or freeze-framed event of the live show was the stage entrance of presenter Julia Roberts.

Most rewound In a post-event report on the behavior of its more than 600,000 subscribers, TiVo reported that the speeches by Mr. Moore, best documentary winner, and Mr. Brody, best actor winner, were the most rewound and replayed segments of the program.

Mr. Moore, who won for his film Bowling for Columbine, used the podium to angrily criticize the war and the president, punctuating his remarks by shouting "Shame on you, Mr. Bush." Mr. Brody, who won for his performance in The Pianist, presented tearful remarks gently critical of the war.

War breaks? TiVo also reported that viewership dropped off heavily during commercials in the Oscars show, but speculated that this was because viewers were using commercial breaks to tune into other sources of news programming to follow the dramatic events of the war in Iraq.

The measurement of audience behavior was based on a review of 10,000 of TiVo anonymous subscribers' viewing patterns during the broadcast.

[KneelBeforeZod]

Subscription fee, and they are tracking what you watch? I'm sure they tell you that, but pretty weak IMO

[SpyGuy]

Of course, the implication is that people wanted to replay the Moore's remarks because they agreed with him. But that is not necessarily the case. People may have been replaying that segment so they could transcribe the diatribe, perhaps to write a letter of protest. Some may have been so shocked that they couldn't believe their ears the first time around. Some may have wanted their spouse to hear the pompous jackass so the two could both be enraged together.

The point is, it is one thing to know that an event occurred. It is something entirely different to understand why the event occurred. Of course, that won't stop the Leftist media from spinning this the way they want to.

As for me, I purposely boycotted the entire program (even though I don't have Tivo watching over my shoulder). Why should I waste my time giving these mostly-anti-American air-headed egotistic punks what they crave: attention and adulation? They don't deserve it. They are nothing more than trained circus monkeys performing for the entertainment of the masses.

[AgentEcho]

I want a copy of Moore's tape because the one time I saw it there were a couple of people I could see clapping for him.

I want to know who those people are too.

Æ

[bluefish]

Had I been watching, I would have replayed him. Just to get a kick out of the booing taking place. I listended to Hitlery in NY several times just to relish the booing. The sanitized version presented by the networks wouldn't have gotten me through the first word..

[BurbankKarl]

TiVo is still around??

[DoughtyOne]

[americafirst]

TIVO II is the best thing ever - I got one about a month ago and almost can't watch TV without it. But it really creeps me out that they can monitor what I pause.

[woofer]

TiVo is still around??

I think maybe not so much now, as they blew their cover by announcing that they can capture every button a user pushes and the exact point of a recorded broadcast a user's unit was scanning at any given moment.

I've been thinking of using TiVo, but I won't be now.

[gcruse]

One out of ten thousand doesn't say much about what I watch. I love TIVO. Sliced bread ain't as good. :)

[gcruse]

IIRC, Tivo grew by sixty percent last year. Does that qualify as still being around?

[amused]

Subscription fee, and they are tracking what you watch? I'm sure they tell you that, but pretty weak IMO

I thought the same...kind of creepy

[ThinkDifferent]

In all fairness, they claim the data they collect is never identified with you personally. They also allow you to opt out altogether, and Tivo hackers have verified that if you do then no data is sent at all.

[knews_hound]

Try Dish Network, it works the same but without the pesky spies.

Cheers,

knews hound

[RightOnGOP]

For this very reason (Tivo over my shoulder), I did not even turn the channel to the Oscar station during its run. While I don't really ever watch wall-to-wall coverage, I did not even want it registered that it graced my tv.

I'm thinking lots of others did the very same, lowest ratings ever, down 23%.

FYI, to those other Tivo users who don't want to be observed "pausing".....just pause sometimes for the heck of it. On old data saying, garbage in, garbage out, they really won't be able to determine why you paused, if it's random and sporadic.

[Green Knight]

That's good, then. If you don't care then let them. And if you don't, then you can opt out and they can't get squat.

Personally, if TiVo becomes popular enough, I'd like for that to be used for tv ratings rather than Nielsens. I'm sick of that crap system cancelling all of my favorite shows. If very little people watch a show I like that's one thing, but Nielsen Ratings just AREN'T an accurate measure of things. And I suspect that with a more accurate ratings system, a lot of the shows I like would prove to have more viewership than people would think otherwise if they just went by the Nielsens.

[xm177e2]

Of course, the implication is that people wanted to replay the Moore's remarks because they agreed with him. But that is not necessarily the case. People may have been replaying that segment so they could transcribe the diatribe, perhaps to write a letter of protest. Some may have been so shocked that they couldn't believe their ears the first time around. Some may have wanted their spouse to hear the pompous jackass so the two could both be enraged together.

Or to listen to people boo him.

[BurbankKarl]

oh, ReplayTV, SonicBlue....

TiVo was really hot to set Hollywood on fire a couple years ago...I know the CEO left suddenly a little bit ago.

[longtermmemmory]

it really bugs me that the hippies coopted the victory sign. We should educate the peacnicks as to its souce.

V -USA

[woofer]

and Tivo hackers have verified that if you do then no data is sent at all.

Would that be four out of five Tivo hackers?

Seriously, are the TiVo hackers hacking into the home unit or into the corporate servers?

[ThinkDifferent]

are the TiVo hackers hacking into the home unit

Yes, they've watched the data as it's sent over the phone line or Ethernet connection when it does its periodic transmissions. TiVo units run Linux and are fairly customizable and hackable (in a good way).