...TiVo 2007: DVRs and Beyond TiVo released its HD DVR in August 2007 to help get the company back on track through recapturing the market shares over the generic DVR competitors. Tom Rogers had experience in this field through his chairman duties as well as being CEO of Primedia and president of NBC cable. The new HD DVR was launched in November as Rogers created a strategy to guide TiVo to being a legacy DVR maker. Did the company make rational investing decisions while working in these business areas while the DVR system has placed TiVo on the map, has the company overall been a success? In the beginning TiVo lacked the desire for improvement even though the company had accumulated approximately $500 million in losses. After hitting a 3-year low the company was hit with many crippling news and decisions. Leading up to the release of the DVR system, TiVo’s market share was worth much less than its actual value, however Rogers was not concerned as the HD DVR would place more power in the consumers hands through the ability to access video content via broadband internet. Through the DVR, TiVo will act as the facilitator to its third-party content distributors. As TiVo worked to develop various broadband content services for its consumers through its media industry partners it created a major offering, which was TiVoCast a system that enables users to access video content feeds though the main TiVo menu. As many questioned TiVo’s push for broadband distribution,...
Words: 1590 - Pages: 7
...TIVO Case Analysis by Agata Amorim Analyze the situation from the consumer’s standpoint. What is TiVo? TiVo is a black device in a box shape, which incorporates a digital video recorder that allows viewers to watch what they want, when they want to watch it, and it allows pause and instant replay functions of live TV by storing information on a hard drive. It enables a person or a group of persons in a household to create their own personal television schedule by using the regular television programs. The additional features include the ability to skip commercials, and input their own viewing preferences. What factors facilitate its adoption? * In contrast with other devices, TiVo allows consumers to record over 30 hours of television without the need to use video tapes or other types of storage units. * TiVo offers independence to viewers since it allows them to watch what and when they want. The device also allows viewers to pause live television and attend to their needs like cooking, answering the telephone, and going to the bathroom, and other activities. * It makes TV viewing enjoyable, backed by the fact that everyone who owned TiVo seemed satisfied with it and 72% of the owners claimed that TiVo had made TV viewing a lot more enjoyable. * Also, TiVo offers better recording quality from its digital technology, easy-to-use features for setting up the recording as well as the capability to skip commercials fast. * TiVo also have popular features...
Words: 1768 - Pages: 8
...Case study: Tivo Tivo delivers broadcasted content, makes house software and large storage devices, and provides software features to skip the advertisement. In deciding where to position itself in the value chain, TiVo management initially focused on software and service. To entice brand-name CE firms to manufacture and distribute TiVo, the company subsidized CE manufacturers up to $200 per box. After TiVo discontinued CE subsidies in 2002 in an effort to conserve cash, management discovered that there was not enough profit in the TiVo Series2 box for CE manufacturers to make their required margins. TiVo reduced the number of parts, outsourced to a very efficient contracting firm, and started selling boxes. In addition to the retailer deals, TiVo worked with manufacturers to gain broader distribution for the TiVo technology. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis The Threat of new entrants is high. TiVo confronted a rash of new entrants. Biggest part of the technology, such as PC, hard drives, MPEG is available to anyone. For hardware, capital requirements are high and TiVo is defending its intellectual property patents aggressively to compete with new entrants. While patents have contributed to keep TiVo’s advantage, litigation has been costly and time-consuming. Besides, TiVo also focused on innovating new technology and features. For software, capital requirements are low and therefore the threat of new entrants is higher than for hardware though the reputation of TiVo remained strong...
Words: 1011 - Pages: 5
...TIVO 2005 CASE ANALYSIS I. Company Background * TiVo, a United States corporation based in Alviso, California was formed in 1997 by Ramsay and Jim Barton and became a leading provider in the digital video recorder (DVR) market in the early 2000s. * Through a system that is integrated with the set-top boxes of satellite and cable providers, TiVo devices can digitize and compress videos from any source and therefore enables subscribers to record programs without video tapes or DVDs, allowing them to watch the programs at their own preference. * TiVo’s mission is to “to revolutionize the way consumers watch and access home entertainment by making TiVo the focal point of the digital living room, a center for sharing and experiencing television, music, photos and other content. TiVo connects consumers to the digital entertainment they want, where and when they want it” (TiVo Investor Relation). II. Utility Map of TiVo’s DVR | Purchase | Delivery | Use | Supplements | Maintenance | Disposal | Customer productivity | Free trial | | Two weeks of EPG information, TiVo’s “showcase” service, TiVo’s Series2 | Season Pass, Wishlist, HME | | | Simplicity | | | Simple clicking | | | | Convenience | | | User-friendly interface, HMO, TiVo to Go | Conflict resolution system | | | Risk | | | Difficult installing, help needed from customer service, brand education | | | | Fun and Image | | | | | | | Environmental Friendliness | | | | |...
Words: 1194 - Pages: 5
...Case Two- TiVo ADMG4055- Seminar in Business Policy Fall 2013 Hail Thy TiVo The company TiVo was created by Mike Ramsey and Jim Barton, these two are veterans from the company Silicon Graphics, SGI. Both were very involved in the entertainment industry, Barton was involved in an on-demand video system and sponsored the Linux system while Ramsey worked on special effects for film companies. It was decided that the Linus software, an open source system, would be just what the TiVo product needed as its operating system foundation. This system combined with Barton’s idea to store a live TV signal on a computer and play it back was the real beginning of the product TiVo. Both inventors of TiVo knew they had a special idea that would appeal to consumers everywhere, Ramsey commented; “Wow, you know, you can pause live television – isn’t that a cool thing?” (J. David Hunger, 2012) This idea is appealing to consumers because it gives the average TV viewer the ability to watch what they want at their own leisure, more control for viewers. Strategic Posture Their mission for the company is to “redefine home entertainment by providing consumers with an easy and intuitive way to record, watch, and control television and receive videos, pictures, and movies from cable, broadcast, and broadband sources.” (TiVo Strategic-Paper)The objectives planned out by Ramsey and Barton were to create a home network-based multimedia server in which content to “thin” clients would be streamed...
Words: 2700 - Pages: 11
...Case 6 - TiVo Company Overview TiVo founders Jim Barton and Michael Ramsay left Silicon Graphics in 1997 and the two dynamic entrepreneurs decided they would reinvent how people can watch television. TiVo was a ground-breaking invention that allowed viewers to control what they watched, when they watched it. Fourteen months after the launch of TiVo, they had 42000 subscribers with a rate of 14000 new subscribers per quarter. With 102 million TV-watching households in the US, this was about a 0.04% penetration rate. This revolutionary system allowed consumers to be fully in control of their media consumption- something never offered before. TiVo to Consumers To TiVo consumers, the ability to control what they wanted when they wanted was a revolutionary way to watch TV. TiVo held many distinct features that made the television experience unique to their consumers. The electronic program guide (EPG) was the user’s interface with the device that let them find out which shows to watch. EPG allowed access to previews for shows that could be scheduled for recording, a video magazine, a set of network showcases, and an on-screen TV guide. Another popular feature was the season pass that allowed users to specify their favourite show so that TiVo would automatically record all the episodes. Consumers also had the option to thumbs up or thumbs down certain shows so subsequently, TiVo could suggest TV programs that may interest them, further enhancing the individual personalization...
Words: 1671 - Pages: 7
...Lanning suggest that customers base their buying decisions on two criteria: 1) the benefits of the product and/or service and 2) price.1 Two reasons that sales were not taking off as anticipated relate to the marketing strategy. First, the TiVo value proposition was unclear to customers and sales people, as evidenced by the “amount of confusion in the press as to how the new product category should be introduced.” 2 Second, the market segmentation approach of targeting early adopters did not produce the leadership buzz that TiVo had anticipated. For their part, “TiVo’s marketing team argued that lack of awareness was a key cause of the discrepancy between the love for TiVo and its lackluster sales. Additionally, TiVo partnered with Philips and Sony for manufacturing and brand recognition. Philips and Sony provided a sense of reliability to the new product, but they were unable to provide support and training for the sales force. Coupled with a salesperson turnover rate of over 50% and the need for extensive explanations and demonstration, the result was an inconsistent message for an innovative technology.” 3 With regards to price, the $1,000 price tag often exceeded the cost of the television itself which created a dissonance that gave pause even to technophiles who were unclear of the value proposition. As a new technology, there was no reference point to indicate the relative value of the purchase. Tacking on an additional service fee to record and receive suggested...
Words: 1817 - Pages: 8
...I | | Current Situation ……………………………………………………… | 4 | | A | Current Performance………………………………………………………. | 4 | | B | Strategic Posture…………………………………………………………… | 4 | | | | | II | | Strategic Managers……………………………………………………… | 6 | | A | Board of Directors………………………………………………………… | 7 | | B | Top Management…………………………………………………………. | 8 | | | | | III | | External Environment ………………………………………………… | 9 | | A | Natural Environment………………………………………………………. | 9 | | B | Societal Environment……………………………………………………… | 9 | | C | Task Environment…………………………………………………………. | 10 | | | | | IV | | Internal Environment …………………………………………………… | 11 | | A | Corporate Structure……………………………………………………….. | 11 | | B | Corporate Culture…………………………………………………….……. | 12 | | C | Corporate Resources……………………………………………………… | 13 | | | Marketing……………………………………………………………….…. | 13 | | | Finance……………………………………………………………………. | 15 | | | Research & Development……………………………………………….… | 16 | | | Operations and Logistics……………………………………………….… | 17 | | | Human Resources Management…………………………………………… | 18 | | | Information Technology…………………………………………………… | 19 | | D | Summary of Internal Factors………………………………………………. | 20 | | | | | V | | Analysis of Strategic Factors……………………………………………. | 21 | | A | Situational Analysis ……………………………………………………… | 21 | | B | Review of the Mission and Objectives…………………………………… | 22 | | | | | VI | | Strategic Alternatives and Recommended...
Words: 2521 - Pages: 11
...TiVo saw a market where people could “program their own network”. Although this indeed was a good idea, but many problems occurred when TiVo started its business. TiVo suffered slow sales which TiVo claimed was caused by lack of awareness of the product. When TiVo was first launched it signed up 42,000 subscribers, which is only 0.04% of U.S. TV-Watching household. The success of TiVo requires management to change the way people watch TV, that is, change people’s TV viewing habits. TiVo needs to establish a convention that TV-watchers are free to choose what to watch and when to watch it. However, the introduction of TiVo presents concerns for the advertising and networking industry. Both industries are concerned that TiVo’s ability to shift programming and skip advertisements will hurt their revenues. As more and more people subscribe to TiVo, both industries fear that the viewers are now in control in what they watch. Customers are very important to TiVo as they ultimately determine the success of TiVo. From a customers’ perspective, management need to address privacy as some people feels that TiVo spies on what they watch and their viewing patterns. The reason that TiVo showed a continuous loss is because TiVo is in the introductory stage of the product life cycle. (Exhibit A) TiVo was only formally launched in March 1999 and not many people aware of the product. Thus during the introduction stage the product is unprofitable. This introductory stage is the most risk...
Words: 1916 - Pages: 8
...Thetj decide what we watch and when we watch it. ..." "Network programmers-who needs them? Program your own network. TiVo. TV your way." Between these two lines, the TiVo commercial showed a pair of burly men throwing a TV network's chief programmer out of the window of a tall office building. Brodie Keast, TiVo's vice president of marketing and sales, had replayed the ad a dozen times on that morning of May 2000, and he still found it to be as hilarious as the first time he saw it. The TiVo digital video recorder, beyond its many advanced features, made a big idea real-if you owned the TiVo black box and subscribed to the TiVo service, you could really control what you watched and when you watched it. TiVo's marketing team intended to get that big idea across through a catchy communications campaign, with a boldly humorous tone that would help consumers envision how TiVo restored the fun of television. Fourteen months into the launch, TiVo had signed up 42,000 subscribers, with a current rate of 14,000 new subscribers per quarter. With 102 million TV-watching households in the U.S., that was only about .04% penetration, despite availability in most major consumer electronics stores across the nation. Yet everyone who owned TiVo seemed satisfied with it, with 72% of owners even claiming that TiVo had made TV viewing "a lot more enjoyable." Ninety percent said they would recommend it to family and friends. Early...
Words: 7407 - Pages: 30
...ALICE M. TYBOUT AND JULIE HENNESSY TiVo As Brody Keast, TiVo’s senior vice president of marketing, pored over research reports and market forecasts, his excitement grew. In one report Odyssey Research concluded, “We have never seen a product test better in terms of consumer intent to purchase.” A report from AC Nielsen Vantis was equally enthusiastic, noting, “Of forty-four consumer electronics concepts we have tested, we’ve never had a product test as high in what we call the trifecta: intensity of liking, new and different, and need fulfillment.” TiVo’s market prospects seemed even brighter than Keast had dared to hope. At the same time, Keast recognized that the TiVo launch would need to be managed carefully. The company’s goal was extremely ambitious: it hoped to revolutionize how Americans watch television and become a central player in the emerging interactive TV industry. Competitors such as ReplayTV had similar products and designs on the future, so TiVo’s success was far from guaranteed. Keast believed that the product positioning at launch would play a key role in determining who would win the race to personalize television viewing. The Vision Americans have a love/hate relationship with television. In all, 98 percent of the country’s 100 million households own at least one TV. On average, each household has 2.4 TVs and spends seven hours and fifteen minutes per day viewing television. In 1999, 78.1 million households spent $34.4 billion to receive cable TV service...
Words: 3022 - Pages: 13
...History of TV advertising From 1941 to 1990s Firsts The first TV ad in the history of television advertising was broadcast on NBC’s WNBT for the Bulova® Watch Company before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The ad featured a Bulova® watch displayed over the map of the United States. The Bulova® Watch Company paid 9 dollars for a 10 second spot and went down forever as the first TV ad in the history of both the world and U.S. television advertising. By 1948, many additional advertisers were using television spots to reach the large audience that owned television sets. Television's spreading popularity merited the formation of the American Association of Advertising Agencies to regulate commercials. Television was so popular during that era that even the movie studios feared that television would dominate all other media! It's shocking to compare the first commercial's 9 dollar price tag to a modern day 30-second TV spot during the Super Bowl which costs several million dollars! The first TV commercial shown in Britain was for Gibbs S R Toothpaste, which lasted 60 seconds, and was broadcast on September 22, 1955. This commercial earned its place as a first in the history of TV advertising completely by chance. In a lottery drawn with 23 other commercials to determine who would go first, Gibbs S R Toothpaste was the one that came up the winner. The 1950s also brought about significant changes in television advertising. More advertising...
Words: 619 - Pages: 3
...402 DESIGNING AND MANAGING THE SUPPLY CHAIN rlX\s '-----' E ~\C)I\ The Great Rebate Runaround Ah, the holiday shopping season: Santa Claus, reindeer-and rebate hell. Those annoying mail-in offers are everywhere these days. Shoppers hate col lecting all the paperwork, filling out the forms, and mailing it all in to claim their $10 or $100. But no matter how annoying rebates are for consumers, the country's retailers and manufacturers love them. From PC powerhouse Dell to national chains Circuit City and OfficeMax to the Listerine mouth wash sold at Rite Aid drugstores, rebates are prolifer ating. Nearly one-third of all computer gear is now sold with some form of rebate, along with more than 20% of digital cameras, camcorders, and LCD TVs, says market researcher NPD Group. Hal Stinchfield, a 30-year veteran of the rebate business, calculates that some 400 million rebates are offered each year. Their total face value: $6 billion, he estimates. Office-products retailer Staples says it and its vendors alone pay $3.5 million in rebates each week. TAX ON THE DISORGANIZED sees lower redemption rates during the Christmas shopping season, when consumers may be too dis tracted to file for rebates on time. Credit this bonanza for retailers and suppliers partly to human nature. Many consumers are just too lazy, forgetful, or busy to apply for rebates: Call it a tax on the disorganized. Others think the 50 cents, $50-or even $200---is just not worth the hassle of...
Words: 2052 - Pages: 9
...million in rebates each week. TAX ON THE DISORGANIZED Why the rage for rebates? The industry's open secret is that fully 40% of all rebates never get redeemed because consumers fail to apply for them or their applications are rejected, estimates Peter S. Kastner, a director of consulting firm Vericours. That translates into more than $2 billion of extra revenue for retailers and their suppliers each year. What rebates do is get consumers to focus on the discounted price of a product, then buy it at full price. "The game is obviously that anything less than 100% redemption is free money," says Paula Rosenblum, director of retail research at consulting firm Aberdeen Group. The impact on a company's bottom line can be startling. Consider TiVo. The company caught Wall Street off guard by sharply reducing its first-quarter loss to $857,000, from $9.1 million in the same period...
Words: 698 - Pages: 3
...thousands units. This new technology was TiVo and it should have been a hit. It was founded in 1997 by Jim Barton and Michael Ramsay. Lagging TiVo Sales in Early 2000 Sales of TiVo’s digital video recorder (“DVR”) lagged in sales in early 2000 due to lack of retail execution, improper pricing, and lack of awareness. Lack of Retail Execution Marketing for TiVo’s DVR at the point of purchase failed in early 2000 because its product: * required extensive explanation and physical store demonstrations, * the manufacturer representatives did not give the amount of support required to market the product, * distribution partners did not have a proper appreciation for its sense of urgency, and * 50% turnover in electronic stores’ sales force made training a challenge. For example, inadequately trained sales employees pitched TiVo as a “high-end” VCR while the press called it, in part, a personal video recorder (PVR), personal digital recorder (PDR), and intelligent video recorder (IVR) collectively resulting in consumer confusion of the product. Improper Pricing Initial pricing for the product was around $1000 USD which TiVo reasoned was reasonable for those early adopters of the DVR technology. However, the price point was twice as much as most satellite systems and more expensive than most television sets. Without being made aware of the benefits of the product (as discussed above) coupled with a high price point, TiVo initially failed to develop a strong following...
Words: 1272 - Pages: 6
