Marketing Problem

TiVo's marketing problem went well beyond the usual task of inserting a product within pre-existing preferences and lifestyles of targeted consumers.

Changes in technology have been slow:

* black-and-white to color

* Then the remote control came along

* Then cable and the satellite dish appeared, together with a proliferation of targeted channels that gave consumers even more choice.

Yet none of these changed the way you watch television

When we introduce TiVo, It's truly a revolution, one that changes the way television is

watched. So we were faced with the ultimate marketing challenge of changing human

behavior on a mass scale--a behavior that was ingrained over a period of 50 years.

Life before TiVo

More American households had television than telephone service, with the average

American household owning 2.4 television sets. The average household spent 7.4 hours per day watching TV, with the average adult spending about 4.3 hours per day in front of the screen.

Networks would schedule their most popular shows during prime time, the broadcast time

between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., with season premieres typically drawing audiences larger than 25

million viewers. Advertisers attempted to take advantage of this audience: In 1999 they spent much of the $52 billion in television advertising expense in the U.S. for prime time space.

Life with TiVo

The basic idea behind TiVo was that it would take control away from the networks and put it

directly into the hands of the consumer

...