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TiVo Business Strategy Overview

TiVo faced several challenges in marketing its digital video recorder including that its features were difficult for non-users to understand, it was hard to demonstrate in stores, and networks/advertisers feared viewers skipping ads. To address these, TiVo's marketing strategy was to focus on illustrating its key features of pause, record, skip and fast forward to show how it puts customers in control of their TV viewing. It also considered lowering prices and bundling TiVo with internet/cable providers to attract more mainstream consumers. However, competition from ReplayTV and Microsoft posed new threats to TiVo maintaining its unique position in the market.

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Hamzah Khan
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35 views2 pages

TiVo Business Strategy Overview

TiVo faced several challenges in marketing its digital video recorder including that its features were difficult for non-users to understand, it was hard to demonstrate in stores, and networks/advertisers feared viewers skipping ads. To address these, TiVo's marketing strategy was to focus on illustrating its key features of pause, record, skip and fast forward to show how it puts customers in control of their TV viewing. It also considered lowering prices and bundling TiVo with internet/cable providers to attract more mainstream consumers. However, competition from ReplayTV and Microsoft posed new threats to TiVo maintaining its unique position in the market.

Uploaded by

Hamzah Khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Hamzah Khan

H027

TiVO Case Concept Note


Case Backdrop

Average household has 2.4 TVs


Average of 7.4 hours a day watching TV
Popular shows between 8 and 11 pm have audiences larger than 25 million
Founders started by focusing on the TV vs. home networking idea
Need to change customers rituals on a mass scale

TiVO Solution

Takes feed and turns it into digital video


Enables pause/fast forward/record
TiVo focused on web and PR aspects

Partnership

Partnered with Sony and Philips


They manufacture, distribute, and promote TiVo

Pricing

Absence of similar product, made pricing difficult as there was no reference point
Box pricing: $499 and $999
Subscription: $9.95/mo, $99/yr, or $199/life

Issues with TiVO

Hard for nonusers to understand premise


Difficult to market to in-store customers
High salesman turnover rate
Networks and advertisers fear that customers will skip commercials

Competition

Replay TV: Quick skip, no service fe,


Microsoft Ultimate TV: More technologically advanced

Problem Insights

Hamzah Khan
H027

Create better brand awareness


Partnership with Sony and Philips isnt really helping with awareness
Difficult to show features in stores; many customers need a demonstration

Marketing Strategy

Show pause/record/skip/FF/REW features


Prediction system, favorites, suggestions, no tapes
Illustrate the fact that it is TV on the customers terms, not the networks terms
TiVo could focus on everyday consumers and lower the cost
Currently problematic, because at $999, its more expensive than many TVs
Would attract the mass market, not just early adopters and trend-setters
Could give a free TiVo with a subscription contract
Partner with internet or dish providers
Emphasis on personal television
Allows networks and advertisers to gain back some control (short ads, etc.)
Most likely would be lower cost to consumers

Conclusion

Though a unique product with novel features, TiVo failed to get the expected market
response owing to lack of clarity in its communication
Product usage was a bit complex, which should have been demonstrated in a
simplistic way
Marketing should not only be clear but easy to understand
Also, a unique product cannot remain unique for a long time. Competition onslaught
can come any moment`

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