InteracTiVoty: DVR Advertising for Viewers Who Don’t Want Commercials - Margret Schmidt - MediaBizBlogger

Users buy DVRs to enjoy their favorite shows but if every home gets a DVR and we all fastforward through commercials then who is going to pay for the TV shows we love to watchTiVo is designing and deploying the future of DVRbased advertising We see it as key to the survival of amp8220freeamp8221 TV Our challenge is to put relevant and interesting advertising in front of users at a time and a place where they want to engage with it We apply the same rigors of amp8220design test iterateamp8221 to our advertising features that we do to DVR features It is important that we find the right balance of advertising in a DVR experienceWe know we are adding advertising to a device that most users purchased in order to avoid advertising We feel the tug of that conflict Users want television without advertising yet television without advertising canamp8217t survive DVR advertising without user acceptance wonamp8217t survive either so we need to make it acceptable even enjoyable for our usersWe donamp8217t let advertising on TiVo get in the way of our usersamp8217 primary tasks When an ad is presented in a navigational menu like TiVo Central or a Now Playing Group it is the last item in the list It has always been optional for users to click on or view an ad When we added the amp8220Discovery Baramp8221 to the new TiVo Search an area at the top of the screen where users could explore recommended TV shows and movies we found users actually liked yes I said liked that advertising content was mixed in with entertainment content When users are in a mood to discover something new interesting and relevant advertising becomes enjoyableAs we innovate and evolve our advertising platform we keep an eye on three metrics amp8220TiVo presents advertising to me in an appropriate wayamp8221 amp8220I am satisfied with the amount of advertising I see in the TiVo serviceamp8221 and amp8220How interesting to you are the advertisements presented in the TiVo serviceamp8221 When our numbers dip below our goals we evaluate what we are doing and make adjustmentsWe find our users about evenly divided into one of following categories those who never click on an interactive ad those who infrequently interact with one and those who regularly click on interactive ads on their TiVo DVRs About half of our interactive ad viewership each month is from these regular visitors When users have great experiences with interactive ads they are more likely to try them again in the future It only takes a few experiences with dull uninformative misleading or confusing ads to discourage them from clicking on them againWhile we can be diligent in the design and presentation of our advertising features the most significant influences on user acceptance of DVR advertising are the appeal and relevance of the campaign and the quality of the creative The ad needs to be something that users want to interact withSo while TiVo canamp8217t make everyone love advertising we have found a reasonable balance for our users and our advertisers We must remember that this is all in the good cause of saving the TV shows we loveMargret Schmidt is Vice President of User Experience for TiVo Inc Follow her at httptwittercomtivodesignOther articles by MargretInteracTiVoty Getting to Know DVR UsersInteracTiVoty Designing for TV Keep It SimpleInteracTiVoty Why We amp8220Testamp8221 our TV UI Designs

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InteracTiVoty: DVR Advertising for Viewers Who Don’t Want Commercials - Margret Schmidt - MediaBizBlogger

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InteracTiVoty: DVR Advertising for Viewers Who Don’t Want Commercials - Margret Schmidt - MediaBizBlogger

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