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TiVo spamming your Now Playing list?

I spotted something annoying today on my TiVo. In the past few weeks, TiVo has been ramping up the advertising efforts, loading ads for related shows/downloads whenever I delete a show and also on the main TiVo screen, but today I noticed something a bit more insidious:

The top item in my list shows 3 shows recorded, but when you go into the folder, you see four items. Turns out the fourth item is an advertising plug for some new off-road race series which doesn't exactly have much to do with a snowboarding/skiing/etc competition. That's kind of annoying. More screenshots after the jump.

Here's the "1 Pro. 1 Joe. One epic journey" screen you get when selected:

It may seem like no big deal to add another item, but I use a TiVo so that I can ignore 99% of the stuff on television and just watch the things my family enjoys. When I dropped into my folder of new shows, I instantly saw the plug for the show because it was highlighted with a star by it, but I didn't record it and it's not one of the shows I record.

The bottom line is that I don't mind general plugs for shows or products done on the main TiVo screen, at the bottom, but when it's deeply embedded in my list of shows, highlighted above the level of even the shows I tape, it's starting to go too far.

TiVo, keep the ads in general places I can choose to look at or not, but don't bury them deep within my own private selection of shows. It's annoying and feels like someone inserting spam subject lines into my inbox of email from coworkers.

by Matt Haughey January 26, 2008 in TiVo

Comments

The problem here is that way back when Tivo was a baby, and we early adopters online had a LOT of influence over them, the people that ran one particular forum (it was the biggest forum and a lot of Tivo employees hung out there) yelled at anyone who complained about those first ads when they appeared in Tivo Central.

So we rolled over and accepted it as a necessary evil. Now every square inch of the interface that *can* have an ad in it *does* have an ad in it.

I agree that it feels like spam and is horribly intrusive, but Tivo has us over a barrel. It's too late to close the barn door, and on top of that all the other horses suck.

Posted by: JimK at Jan 26, 2008 3:48:12 PM

I remember the war over the showcases on the main TiVo screen, but I never felt too bad about those because it was an impersonal opening menu.

For some reason, being deep within my stash of shows, it feels like they're impeding on "my" part of the TiVo, where the main screen was more of "their" part of the system.

I guess I don't mind general advertising in "public" spaces but once you get into my "private" space, it's really, really annoying.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Jan 26, 2008 4:05:00 PM

Oh for pete's sake. When the ads are above your recorded content then I'll care.

Posted by: Pinwiz at Jan 26, 2008 4:40:12 PM

Are you guys serious? It's got the same star as all the other stuff. So you know it's an ad for something. It's down below all your shows. So just don't click on it and don't worry about it.

I find them easily ignorable.

Posted by: Brad Balfour at Jan 26, 2008 6:02:21 PM

Yeah, I saw this for the first time recently. I don't care for it.

Posted by: Dave Zatz at Jan 26, 2008 6:53:54 PM

Depends on your taste in shows I suppose. X-Games? You're probably labeled as the type of demo that'd enjoy ads with their stuff. Just another target market. Now where's that opt-out button?

Posted by: Mr. S at Jan 26, 2008 6:57:02 PM

More power to TiVo. They need the revenue streams from anywhere they can find them. Personally, I find this infinitely less annoying then the way most magazines bury the content with ads. If it helps them to fund innovation and perks like my Multi-Service Discount, I will never say a word.

Posted by: Mat at Jan 26, 2008 9:59:55 PM

I am getting sick and tired of their shit. Still no 2 way communication on cable cards (sure, it's the other guy's problem, but it's an issue nonetheless), crappy feature set on the HD side - years late, features missing. Now this fucking spam everywhere. I am sick and tired of seeing their junk. Wish someone would hack the crap out of that OS. I'd PAY for a blocker to remove all the spam and stop the flow of the data back to Tivo again. I had that with my old Directv setup - but now on the HD, there are no hacks to my knowledge, so I (and all of us) are stuck with the garbage that some yellow tied marketing genius came up with to save Tivo.

GET A CLUE - I paid you TONS of money to get off the ads. I think it's time to re-evaluate the lousy UI from the cable company!

Posted by: This is getting ridiculous at Jan 26, 2008 10:04:03 PM

Honestly, I don't mind the ads, wherever they are placed. They help ensure that TiVo has enough income to continue on as a company and to continue to improve their DVRs. Those ads are a small price to pay, in my opinion. My eyes routinely gloss over the ads on web pages; the same will be true for TiVo screens with ads.

Posted by: Jay at Jan 27, 2008 5:42:31 AM

To make matters worse, they are now putting advertisements in the middle of the screen on some things as you fast forward. I was watching a downloaded CNET CES episode and there was a Norton ad that would appear in the middle taking up a third of the screen as you fast forward. Kinda makes it impossible to tell when you want to stop.

GRRRRR!

Posted by: Jason at Jan 27, 2008 7:59:27 AM

We didn't like it (my wife was really not too happy to see this on a machine we've invested in heavily) but its not intrusive, yet. It is very annoying considering nearly 6 years of no-intrusive-ads on our series1 and we invest a ton of money into series3 and get ads instead.

Posted by: Scott Dier at Jan 27, 2008 12:03:25 PM

As Jason stated, I found the same problem, with the same recording. It irritated me to no end because as I was fast forwarding, I couldn't see where I wanted to stop. I don't care about the ones embedded in menus...keep the junk off my screen during something I've recorded!!!

Posted by: Dawn at Jan 27, 2008 3:31:33 PM

It would be fine if the service was free, but for $14 a month we shouldn't be looking at ads on a box we own.

Posted by: charles at Jan 27, 2008 4:23:33 PM

I'm with the people who object to this change.

Those who paid for a lifetime subscription paid for it WITHOUT THE ADS. TiVo is breaking the terms of the agreement that they would provide service for the life of the box along with any software IMPROVEMENTS... These ads are NOT (IMHO) improvements and therefore, lifetime members should have the option of opting out of the added ads...

Posted by: JLS at Jan 27, 2008 10:19:07 PM

As much as I don't like them, I would gladly let them put ads in every folder if I could opt out (permanently) of those FFWD popup ones.

I feel like I'm being taken advantage of, paying for the box, paying for the subscription and now having to see an ad on the ad on the podcast I downloaded.

It's going too far.

Posted by: JimK at Jan 27, 2008 10:48:01 PM

I haven't seen those yet, but they are definitely ramping up the advertising. I think if they do much more of it, they better drop the monthly service price.

Posted by: Brian at Jan 28, 2008 6:34:58 AM

Damn skippy! I'm with this dude!

Posted by: BG at Jan 28, 2008 11:51:49 AM

...and slowly the tide turns from "I don't care about ads" to "they're starting to bother me" as the slippery slope turns to Teflon.

Well it's too late to complain now suckers. I guess you should have thought about that when you were busy ridiculing us early dissenters.

Thanks for nothing and enjoy paying for your new "Preview Channel" Tivo style.

Posted by: gettingREALtiredoftivo at Jan 29, 2008 5:07:15 AM

While I understand the desire to generate revenue, this seems poorly thought out and destined to irritate rather than titillate. They are, currently, easy to recognize and avoid but how much longer until ads start appearing in recorded shows? Until you are forced to watch an ad before watching your show? Tivo really needs to be careful here or they will hit that tipping point and the company will crater. I don't want that to happen but I can see it coming. Luckily I've already made my lifetime subscription back and alot more. But I'll still be pissed off when it dies on me. I can't go back to normal tv, man, I just can't!

Posted by: Erik at Jan 29, 2008 12:12:28 PM

ADS == SPAM

This is total BS. Get your ads outta MY stuff!

Posted by: Erich at Jan 30, 2008 8:21:22 AM

I can't believe they have done this. A lifetime affair with Tivo may come to an end if this continues...I hate this pathetic attempt to generate revenue at the expense of their users. Paying $799 for a series 3 when they first came out plus $20 a month to dodge adverts.... this is just plain wrong...

Take care Tivo - you have gone too far.

Posted by: dazza at Feb 2, 2008 8:30:30 AM

Wow. Anyone that says it's fine with them must have a free subscription or an affiliation with tivo. Ads on a paid service are real tough for me to swallow. No, i'm not comparing tivo to a paid service like 'cable'. Shame on you tivo. I do not want ads on my tivo like the one described. I'm going to pursue other options if this persists. I think the best action for anyone with the same stance as me is to never ever click on these ads. Tivo will get the hint. I think anyone that "doesn't mind the extra ads" is nuts. Can i give you my ads?

Posted by: swp at Feb 4, 2008 4:31:43 PM

Look at the TiVo earnings numbers. They have only had two profitable quarters. The average customer is only paying $12 a month. That is not enough money to provide this service without ads. Those are the facts of life.

BTW- If you want Two Way Communication with CableCARDS, TiVo would have to give up its UI and give you the cable companies UI. Check the CableLabs Spec.

Posted by: Rich at Feb 5, 2008 5:39:29 PM

I can't be concerned with how a company is doing and base that on whether or not i like ads. So i should like ads if the company isn't doing well? No way. This is the nature of the market. The PRODUCT and their business tactics reflect their profits.. If they are counting on ads on their menus to make their budget they're sunk anyway. I don't like ads on my tivo. I don't pay 12 a month, I pay 18 a month because i have 2 tivos. No biggie. But not for long if they go too far. I will go with something else. An advert in the middle of the screen when you fast forward? Come on..

Posted by: swp at Feb 6, 2008 5:47:08 PM

I ran into a much bigger Tivo advertising problem yesterday that I am still steaming about. My son had just finished watching a recorded episode of Little House on the Prairie when a gold star advertisment for Cosmopolitan magazine appeared asking to click here to find out Men's top 10 sexy secrets. Of course, being curious, he clicked on it and was given two options: No, I'm sexy enough, and Yes, I want to know the secrets (or something like that). He clicked Yes and a screen came up saying thank you for subscribing to the magazine!

When I called Tivo, they were kind enough to turn off the gold stars on my system, but could not do anything about the purchase. I am currently dealing with Cosmopolitan about this.

This is just going way too far...

Posted by: Jenny at Feb 7, 2008 11:47:42 AM

Advertising in the now playing menu reeks of desperation. It's been fun Tivo but I think it's time I start seeing other devices.

Posted by: Marlon at Feb 9, 2008 5:48:00 AM

Tivo, you are losing sight of who made you, the Tivo lovers, all of us. Now you have turned against us by inundating us with advertising. By selling us out and shoving these ads in our face at every turn you are losing the love. This is bad karma.

Posted by: Chris at Feb 12, 2008 1:34:42 PM

Yeah, this is pretty much a bummer. I haven't seen it but my wife did when she was browsing a Daily Show folder - I was blown away. "WHAT YOU SAY !!", etc.

I'm one of those who *did* mind the gold star ad on the TiVo Central page but stuck with it because TiVo is like crack, basically. But between these ads, the ads on the "delete now?" screen, the gold star ones, the ones during commercials... it's a question of, "I'm paying $13/month for this?"

OTOH I really don't know how TiVo can make money otherwise. Sad.

Posted by: Paul at Feb 16, 2008 7:24:17 AM

Funny thing - I bought Tivo HD on Christmas day, and all the ads in Now Playing came up after 30 days (when my 12-month contract kicked in).
Basically they gave me a preview to keep me signed up, and once they got my by the balls with contract, they turned up ads.

I haven't seen fast-forward ads yet (I use 30-sec skip hack), but if I start seeing those, I'm definitely getting rid of Tivo.

WTF, I pay for device AND I pay subscription AND I get ads? My Dish DVR cost same money, didn't require any additional subscription cost and was ad-free.

Posted by: Dami at Feb 17, 2008 10:38:06 AM

I just purchased a TiVo HD and waiting for its delivery. I am extremely disappointed to know that TiVo is pushing ads in such an intrusive manner. They really need to be much more innovative about how they generate more revenue. They should rely more on the cut from the content they sell through Amazon Unbox. If they can iron out the problems with their Unbox model (relatively little content, poor UI for browsing, no instant playback after downloading, etc.), they can have a new reliable revenue stream. I also don't think they will be able to get new subscribers or retain existing subscribers at the current subscription rate. Apple TV is availabe at the same price and iTunes will surely add a lot more content this year. Once enough content becomes available on iTunes in terms of TV shows, films and podcasts (and youTube), TiVo's appeal diminishes quite a bit. If the current state of affairs continue at TiVo, then I will be forced to sell my box pretty soon.

Posted by: Jay at Mar 25, 2008 4:13:26 PM

I make it a point to wait and see what kind of evil can come from that which feels so good. I'm glad I waited on buying a tivo. I'm sorry for your losses, but I do appreciate your experience.

Posted by: vaago at Apr 10, 2008 5:56:42 PM

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