1.0 Introduction
TiVo digital video recorder enables the audience to program their own viewing. To subscribe to this service, it is simple since the only requirement is a TiVo black box. This enables one an opportunity to find shows that match interest. One can also connect to a home network to enable the download of movies and television shows, photo viewing, and music downloads. The essence of TiVo is to take control away from networks and place it in the hands of consumers. TiVo Inc develops and markets this product with a bid of restoring fun in television viewing. This paper discusses concerning this company that offers this digital video recorder, highlighting some of the problems that the company faces and the solutions thereof.
2.0 Problem Statement
TiVo has been able to sign up 42000 subscribers fourteen months after the launch of this digital video recorder. Every quarter had 14000 new subscribers. Statistics depict that television subscriber in the entire nation of America stands at 102 million (Zippy share 1). According to this statistic, this is a very small penetration having made intense campaign create awareness to this digital video recorder. Most of the subscribers of TiVo service claim that this product caters for enjoyment since people can control their own viewing. According to online forums, the company subscribers recommend this service to their friends and families. TiVo’s marketing team explains that the lack of awareness causes to the company recording low sales. The marketing team has anxiety of the use of the provocative television and print campaign message to the audience. It seems like this campaign message has not been well conceived by the audience since it appears distorted. The digital video recorder contains a major problem in pausing and replaying live television due to many recording services. This company during the launch failed to identify strategic interests and integrate them in the marketing campaigns. Viewers experience a delay when switching from recorded programming to the live television (Zippy share 5). This entertainment service is expensive in nature to enable one utilize all the feature of live viewing and accessing personalized shows.
The pricing strategy adopted by the company makes the service more expensive than television sets. The promotion of this service is limited only to mass media campaign. The marketing team lacked a demonstration model. This resulted in difficulty in elaborating how it works. During the launch of the service, the press experiences confusion to refer to TiVo as personal video recorder, digital video recorder, personal digital recorder, intelligent video recorder, or on-demand television. The press contributes to the problem of this device by discussing negative issues that hurt the revenues. TiVo’s Personal Television displays have distortion and often freezes when one changes the channels. The marketing team of TiVo faces the task of changing American ingrained habits since most of the people are resistant to change. Some people claim that TiVo peeks at their viewer habits that ought to remain private. TiVo faces the conflict of interest between allocating advertisements in the programming content and personal viewing. This is because networks place their adverts at the prime shows while most of the viewers limit the viewing of the adverts. This can hurt the company in terms of advertisement sales or constraining the freedom of advertisers to ensure the consumer remains in control (Zippy share 9). Replay Television is a competitor for TiVo since it offers the same programming content at a reduced price. Additionally, Replay has a quick skip menu to allow viewers to skip the commercial advertisement. This device does not have monthly charges, as does Replay Television. Other competitor in personal television category remains a threat to TiVo’s success.
3.0 Proposed Solution
The TiVo marketing team can consider reducing the cost of purchase of service to auger well with the competitors. It is crucial for the marketing team to remain consistent to triple the marketing sales and capture a lead market share while the company builds brand equity. TiVo can use different media instead of relying with one (Zippy share 10). The company can make use of its website to create awareness of the product while harnessing television advertising to promote the brand identity of the company.
TiVo should work with the charter advertisers so as to enable the practice of personalized and target advertising. This will make adverts relevant and interesting. TiVo keeps track of all the shows watched by the subscribers and people habits in recording programs. TiVo can use this information to assist advertisers to track and predict the audience (Zippy Share 11). Advertisers can also benefit from this by identifying commercials that the audience skips to enable the production of better advertisements.
TiVo can air different versions of a particular commercial to enable personal preference of the viewer. TiVo can employ the telescoping adverts to enable users an opportunity to select short screen on categories. TiVo can offer networks an opportunity to evaluate the number of people that schedule a show to view a promotion. This can enable the networks to adjust the launch strategy and marketing advertising campaigns that are informative and affective. TiVo’s preference engine suggestions can give networks a chance to match shows depending on the viewers’ interest.
4.0 Analytical elements
5.0 Conclusion
In future, this company will lay off workers or consider exiting the hardware business due to high cost of business that translates to massive losses. TiVo might pursue a strategy that will ensure it is able to distribute products to cable companies as does Cisco and Motorola companies. The immediate strategy for TiVo include collaborating with magnates such as Pace or focus on the cloud-based products. The company has to verify demand of the consumers to enable them pursue a certain line of production.
Works Cited
"Zippyshare.com - TiVo.pdf." Zippyshare.com - TiVo.pdf. N.p., 2 Mar. 2014. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. <http://www14.zippyshare.com/v/13909013/file.html>.
