TiVo pits Palm ads vs. BlackBerry ads; Palm ....Wins? 36
Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:53 am EST 
If there’s one company that is the bane of advertisers, TiVo would be it. Their “timeshifting” devices (i.e. DVRs) have enabled consumers not only to watch TV later, but to skip commercials and get to what they really want to watch. And while most consumers may not own a TiVo, they can get a similar DVR through their cable/satellite provider. As it would turn out, TiVo is also interested in how people skip commercials and keeps track of stuff like that. They decided to compare last years smartphone companies ads, pitting Research in Motions’s BlackBerry line against Palm (Apple’s not just a smartphone company, so despite their excellent commercials they don’t count here).
What’s interesting is that despite the fact that BlackBerry ads were both more plentiful and better positioned in a block of ads (first being better), Palm’s ads were skipped over less often. Palm’s ads that were in the “first pod position” were actually skipped 20% less than similarly-placed BlackBerry ads. Palm’s ads also were skipped less overall in households with incomes over $150,000.
The ads that Palm ran were also notably shorter than RIM’s, with 97% of the Palm ads running for just 15 seconds. The shorter ads logged 30% less fast-forwarding than 30-second ads. On the flipside, 26% of BlackBerry ads ran for a full minute, and those only suffered 4% more skipping than the 30-second versions.
Most of those Palm ads were creepy lady commercials, so it’s hard to say whether people were fascinated by the product or by the commercials themselves. Either way, it has a tiny part of us wondering if maybe we burned the witch too soon, so to speak.
With Palm’s new ad campaign under way and the devices soon to spread to other US networks, it should be interesting to see this comparison again next year.
36 Comments
and the creepy chick strikes again..
I'm sure people were watching the ad thinking "What the heck is this crazy lady talking about?". And before they were able to hit the skip button the ad was already over.
"And what do you burn aside from witches?"
"MORE witches!!!!"
Best post of the day - I can log off now. :)
Not until you bring me a shrubbery!
Ni! Ni!
I blow my nose in your general direction.
now THAT'S funny!!!
we just need better commercials showing off what the phone can do. I'm not a fan of google phone owners coming to me and saying...look...I can do all these things @ the same time...
and just tell them "welcome to the game...you're a bit behind"
and then they start asking me about my pre
lets go palm. We need smart/catchy/demostrative commericals!!!
omfg hahhhhah
My question is...is how someone is able to play a non-fuzzy full colored ad on a old antenna black/white TV?!? The resolution of the screen shown almost puts my 54" Plasma to shame!
How does TIVO know the viewer's income level? by location and statistics?
TiVo knows all.
Never dout the all mighty Tivo.... I think itz listenin
Spy camera imbedded in the IR port.
Its the creepy lady that made me stop my zipping. Its how I almost missed that first commercial. It was a WT* moment!
If anybody even begins to suggest that the creepy lady ads were a good thing for Palm, they're nuts. The first one with the kung foo guys was a decent teaser with a positive air about it. Things went downhill dramatically after that. The commercials bordered on embarrassing. The whole feminine products look and feel was a huge turn off. Please, please no more reminders /Rant Off. Sorry.
So who's excited about all the new 3D gaming and 1.4 goodness to come? I am!
May be viewers are hypnotised by the creepy lady aka Skynet :/
I love geek humor. thanks for making me laugh at work!
oh, and I second that motion re excited for 1.4 and 3d games and flash for porn, oh i mean previews etc
Palm has a new ad campaign?
Yes, coming up.
And you probably know about the Pixi ad, which was pretty good and it had a great song attached.
I don't think enough props were given to the Palm Pixi commercial with the Passion Pit song. That commercial was awesome and fun to watch. It also got people looking for the song.
I for one always would stop skipping commercials and stop to watch the pre ads, in hopes of seeing a new one and to see how they are advertising the phone (for better or worse unfortunately).
The Pixi ad is good? You must be joking. All it tells me is that I can take pics, send texts, and it has a keyboard. Just like dozens of other phones. Oh, and somehow it's fun.
The pixi ad doesn't even tell me it's a smartphone, that it multi tasks, or that I can run apps.
The ad shows happy people and people interacting with each other. Coke and McDonalds didn't get where they are by showing creepy or emotionless solitary people.
For the audience that they are trying to reach I think it was a good commercial. It makes it cool and sleek to the young crowd.
The Pre should be the phone that gets demoed in a commercial.
I confess. I skewed the results. I have a TiVo and any time I saw a Palm ad, I watched it. :)
BlackBerry ads were both more plentiful
I'm assuming that had something to do with it. Obviously people are going to be more likely to skip an ad they've seen 100 times before.
I don't watch a lot of TV but I do have some questions that were not answered. How does that crappy 1990s TV get such good reception? The the creepy Palm lady isn't a witch, then what is she (don't say Skynet, she'll kill us all)? Why do people care about Blackberry? Have they released anything new since the Pre's release?
1990s!??! Try 1970s.... (how old are you, anyway? Do your parents know you're on the Internetz alone?)
Its been 4 month since I bought my palm pre and I have yet to see a O2 palm pre ad in the UK.
I say Palm should keep the creepy gal and make more bizaar commericials with her. Really bizaar commercials!
It kind of makes sense. The Pre girl ads were kind of unassuming. Just some chick talking, and only briefly. Likely people stopped thinking maybe it was just their show or something.
Plus, I dunno about you, but I'm of the Hulu culture. If it's 15 seconds, I watch the ad. If it's 30 or more, I go check and see what's new at PreCentral while it plays out.
And the winner of the most useless stat of the day goes to...... drum roll.................................
Whatever gets your product noticed is all that matters, especially with a million phones out there. Nobody's going to not buy a phone because there's a weird girl in the ad. They are going to know what it is. And if they know what it is, they'll look at it in the store.
Does anyone know if this tracking includes the "dramatized ads" for shows like Heroes? People might be more likely to watch those as opposed to skipping, since they're part of the show they're watching.
Before I got my Pre I remember watching the creepy lady commercials and wondering "the heck was that about". But she was kind of entrancing.