If you have not entered the world of DVRs (digital video recorders) and are considering it, then this is a great deal.
It is for new Directv customers only, but the website has some deals for existing customers too.
I ordered a Tivo series 1 from them over a year ago and it is great. Changed how I watch tv.

Here is the reciever for $99 - Philips DSR7000D
An annual contract is required with DirecTV.

Kenneth

--- He's so skinny, he has to run around in the shower to get wet.

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Originally posted by kennethpruett:
If you have not entered the world of DVRs (digital video recorders)...
...Changed how I watch tv.

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Also know as PVRs (personal digital recorders) in the Dish world. It's really great never having to watch comercials!

FYI... TIVO does compile user viewing info which they make available to advertisers by zip code.

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Originally posted by st_richardson:
Also know as PVRs (personal digital recorders) in the Dish world. It's really great _never_ having to watch comercials!

FYI... TIVO does compile user viewing info which they make available to advertisers by zip code.

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I think it is worth allowing them to compile the data...as long as it does not tie the data directly to my account.
Besides, I don't watch anything I wouldn't care letting people know about.

I estimate I have saved days of time that would have been spent watching commercials over the last year and a half I have had mine.

Kenneth

--- He's so skinny, he has to run around in the shower to get wet.

They do tie it to your account. That's how they get your zip code. They take the information of your account (address) and tie it to census data which again is tied to your address. That is used to determine ethnicity, Household size, ages of those in the household, Income etc. They actually gather the information and then sell it to syndicated data firms like AC Nielsen or Information Resources. Just like loyalty programs at Petco or Kroger or CVS keep track of what you purchase and the frequency of your visits.

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Originally posted by Slayerette:
They do tie it to your account. That's how they get your zip code. They take the information of your account (address) and tie it to census data which again is tied to your address. That is used to determine ethnicity, Household size, ages of those in the household, Income etc. They actually gather the information and then sell it to syndicated data firms like AC Nielsen or Information Resources. Just like loyalty programs at Petco or Kroger or CVS keep track of what you purchase and the frequency of your visits.

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Ok. I was gonna search it out, but maybe you already have the sources you can give us? for TIVO that is...

Thanks,
Kenneth

--- He's so skinny, he has to run around in the shower to get wet.

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Ok. I was gonna search it out, but maybe you already have the sources you can give us? for TIVO that is...

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If you mean "Where do I get my information or How do I know", It's what I do for a living. I use all sorts of information gathered from all over the place to determine consumer profiles.

TIVO may just be gathering the information for their own purposes, but the sale of syndicated information is very lucrative. Combine the viewing habits of a Household with the Census data for that Household as well as purchasing habits at Kroger and you have a very powerful tool to help identify preferences of certain consumers. Advertisers and Manufacturers can then target their consumer with coupons, advertisements, offers by mail and commercials.

Now, if you mean, "Where can I get this information?" It is quite expensive. A retailer will contract to sell their scanning data to AC Nielsen or IRI for a couple of million dollars a year. Spectra Marketing is the largest purchaser of Census data and they are a sister company of AC Nielsen. A larger conglomerate named VNU owns them. They own 9 other companies that gather or purchase some sort of consumer or retailer information.

Now, do I know specifically that TIVO sells viewing behavior? No. But it stands to reason. AC Nielsen, which does a lot with scanner data in the grocery industry, has a division that ranks TV shows...the Nielsen ratings. They ask people (pay them a small amount of money too) to keep a diary of what they watch. These diaries, which are not always accurate (people forget or are embarrassed of what they watch), are then transposed into a computer database by people who aren't always accurate. While this is how it's been done over the years, in order for Nielsen to improve it's product they must increase their participants and increase accuracy. If they can get the data electronically from lets say - TIVO or the Dish networks then they can increase the respondents, increase the accuracy and increase the turn-a-round of data with a small investment. They then can charge more for the privilege of using their data.

Not sure if I answered your question. But I hope I was at least close.

Nielsen has both diaries and electronic recording of watching habits. See FAQs - About Nielsen Families and FAQs - About Our Research & Products My family had a Nielsen diary once a long time ago. I think it was for a month. I knew someone who had nielsen meters hooked up to their TV's and VCR's. I think it was for a year.

As for TiVo selling info see
http://www.iht.com/articles/98368.htm and http://www.marketingfix.com/archives/tivo_sells_ad_skipping_data_to_marketers.php

[This message was edited by AllenLacy on June 12, 2003 at 08:26 AM.]

A guy I used to talk to a lot at MIT, Doug Lenat, was working a while back on a project partially funded by Nielsen.

Nielsen continues to be dissatisfied with the accuracy of their "people-meter" data because although it can tell what channel the set is tuned to, it can't tell if anyone is actually watching.

So, they wanted Doug's team to develop a set-top box with a camera and some image analysis software. The box would not only record the time and channel, but also how many people were in the room and in view of the TV. The truly scary part is that it would also do some rather complex analysis of the video, looking at people's eyes, and record how many were actually looking at the screen (rather than knitting, reading, sleeping, etc.)

This was nearly 10 years ago, and I feel sure they've made sufficient progress that some form of the device is in use by now.

Scott

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Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I was working for IRI.(I later went to work for VNU.) They had panelists that signed up for a box to be put on the outside of their house(to the cable connection) that would broadcast different commercials (then their neighbors) based on what the Households viewing and purchasing behaviors were.

Alot of TIVO users such as yourself Kenneth skip commercials. But if a show is popular with a target group of consumers and those consumers skip commercials, How will the advertisers reach that group of consumers? Well, by product placement in that show. It is an advertising way of life in the movies and it is slowly starting to infiltrate the Television medium.

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FYI... TIVO does compile user viewing info which they make available to advertisers by zip code.

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Oh by the way. The information is availabe lower than the zip code. It goes down to the block level which consists of "around" 400 households.

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Originally posted by Slayerette:
Alot of TIVO users such as yourself Kenneth skip commercials. But if a show is popular with a target group of consumers and those consumers skip commercials, How will the advertisers reach that group of consumers? Well, by product placement in that show. It is an advertising way of life in the movies and it is slowly starting to infiltrate the Television medium.

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Like Truman Show....

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FYI... TIVO does compile user viewing info which they make available to advertisers by zip code.

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Oh by the way. The information is availabe lower than the zip code. It goes down to the block level which consists of "around" 400 households.

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Ok...all this info is great, but I am talking about selling of data attached to my name, address, phone#, etc.
If data is sold for viewers as small as my street, it doesn't bother me. It helps marketers and they can target better, sell better, and hopefully not just "shotgun" adverstisements all over the place.
Where I draw the line is linking to my household or me individually.

Kenneth

--- He's so skinny, he has to run around in the shower to get wet.

The census doesn't sell it down to you individually. Though probably TIVO does. To a 3rd party that is. That 3rd party (like Prizm and Claritas) has to match it to the block group provided by the census so they cluster it up to the block group. They don't release names. They don't even care that they have the names. They are not interested in the individual, just groups or clusters of people. Marketers and Advertisers don't care about the individual either. Groups or clusters are the target. More bang for their advertising dollar you see. They like many companies that have address information for their large customer base (ie. credit card companies, magazine subscriptions and utility companies), sell that info (addresses, not loyalty or viewing info) to mail marketers... result: junk mail advertising. Just like yahoo did with email addresses...result: spam.

You'd think I work for them, but I don't.
I just keep watching for a good deal on a Series 2 for existing DirecTV customers.

Anyway, they dropped the prices on the units for new DirecTV customers to $49.
DSR-7000D at Orbitsat

Kenneth

--- He's so skinny, he has to run around in the shower to get wet.