Tivo Tries, Cancels PayPerPost Ad Strategy

Tivo tries out PayPerPost- essentially pseudo viral marketing where you pay people for creating advertising for you and getting it out on the net. Unsurprisingly, when this all came out, people complained and they killed the program and tried to pull the videos when they realized that they were looking like tools.

Re:Damn ads

[techpawn]

They're banking on the social "word of mouth" style of advertising. It's the old psychological thing of "Oh hey! Bob's using it and he's doing well. I might as well too so I can do well!" That's why they have these "real" people give testimonials about the products. So other Sheeple will follow them off the cliffs

Re:Free money!

[sprag]

I hate GWB, but any video on youtube with Yakety-Sax in the background is serious business!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cMO8Pyi3UpY [youtube.com]

Re:Damn ads

[maxume]

I'm concerned now, as I have no idea what a kitchen roll is, and apparently, I could be using one to change my life.

(I'll jump in here and ruin the joke myself, to beat the inevitable interlopers to it, 'kitchen roll' is apparently how some British people refer to paper towels)

Woe be to TiVo

[Generic Guy]

I hate to say it, but I can't say I'm surprised. Seems that in recent years TiVO has been losing support from their most-ardent fans -- the longtime TiVo owners (like myself). Tivo has squandered a lot of the goodwill from their own community.

• There have been a lot of crazy pricing structure changes, all of which are more expensive than previously.
• Tivo now wants a minimum one-year "lock-in" similar to the cell-phone dealers. You cannot try the service for a couple of months to see if you like it.
• They ended the Lifetime Subscription option which was popular with folks who hate recurring bills.
• After a year on the market there are serious questions about the performance and reliability of their newest and most-expensive HiDef units. And its incompatible with the new SDV (Switched Digital Video) being introduced on a lot of cable systems.
• Encroachment of more and more insidious kinds of advertising on a machine already expensive to buy and maintain.
• Customer service leaves a lot wanting. For the cost, you'd think they would have better/more-knowledgable CSRs without the long wait-times.
• And most-dangerously... inexpensive, competing units direct from the Cable Companies and Satellite vendors which have moved from "outright horrible" to "moderately usable". TiVo is fighting a war of attrition.

Tivo's biggest problem seems to be losing evangelism from their (former) biggest fans. It's too expensive and the lock-in seems abusive. And without the Lifetime to fall back on, I can't really recommend it anymore. I'm not the only old-timer who feels this way.

It's no wonder they need to turn to astroturfing.