Oprah's audience went wild again.
When Messing came back on stage to talk with Oprah during the formal filming of the show, Oprah announced that NBC would make good on Messing's offer. Everyone in the studio that day was promised "a TiVo box."
Messing single handedly arranged "the score."
Three times the crowd went wild that day.
Oprah called it one of those "desperate moves" that you reach for when you feel like you're going down.
Messing told Oprah they (referring perhaps to the producers of her show) were lucky. She said that one woman in the crowd wanted a house.
So, with Messing, Oprah and NBC, who really needs TiVo's CEO & Co-Founder Michael Ramsay or their President Marty Yudkovitz? Both Ramsey and Yudkovitz recently announced that they are leaving the company that brought TiVo to life.
But not before making good on the promise they made recently.
On Friday, America's favorite digital video recorder maker stood by its estimate that it added 200,000 to 275,000 new stand-alone subscribers in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended in January.
Today, more than 2 million brilliant people have subscribed to TiVo's service.
TiVo shares, down about 34 percent this year, climbed 22 cents, or 6 percent, to $3.83 on Friday on Nasdaq.
While their $50 million paid marketing efforts may not have paid off, Debra Messing's offer just bought TiVo a ton of free publicity, and then some.
Her act certainly inspired me to use the opportunity to tout TiVo.
Touting TiVo
Everybody who owns a tv has probably heard the term "tivo" but do they really know how great a TiVo is?
The bottom line: TiVo gives you a life not tied to your tube.
TiVo's service allows customers to record TV programs onto a set-top box with a built-in hard drive. You watch tv when it suits your busy schedule.
In a recent survey, more than 98 percent of TiVo subscribers "couldn't live without" the TiVo service.
While I was not part of the survey, I would have been one of them.
Another 40 percent surveyed said they would sooner disconnect their cell phone than unplug their TiVo.
As one of the early adopters, we are now on our second upgraded TiVo box.
For the past five years, every time someone comes to our house, you'd think we were operating The San Francisco TiVo Chamber of Commerce.
Our friends kid us that we're the biggest TiVo evangelists in the city -- almost as big as the Mac evangelists we've been since 1983.
So, today I decided, if Debra Messing can tout TiVo to millions on Oprah, I'm going to be so bold with the half-a-million people who visit Rugged Elegant Living each month.
TiVo Benefits
Thanks to TiVo I no longer call myself a "football widow."
Even though I'm a huge football fan I was never crazy about keeping up with 4 college and pro teams.
Now, with the combination of DirectTV, my husband can watch exactly the games he wants and in a fraction of the time it used to take -- thanks to TiVo.
Thanks to TiVo, when the NHL was still alive, we once watched a Colorado Avalanche hockey game in eleven minutes.
Watching a "tivoed" baseball game, golf match or tennis tournament is also a huge time saver. You can zip through a Giants game and just watch when Barry Bonds is at bat.
Every year, this family hosts at least one Super Bowl, American Idol finale or Academy Award party at our home.
Inevitably, sometime during the day or evening, we become living TiVo commercials for all our friends who have not been introduced to this life-changing, huge time-saving service.
By TiVoing the program you are watching as you watch it, you can, on-the-spot, stop and rewind a great play that someone in the other room might have missed, a "tivoable" comment made by Simon Cowell - heaven-forbid, or a Hilary Swankesque acceptance speech.
Other than sports, music and award ceremonies, one show we love to watch is our once-a-week favorite indulgence: 24, a must for any Kiefer Sutherland fan. This is undoubtedly the best anti-terrorist action thriller since La Femme Nikita.
While we try to reserve Monday nights for Jack Bauer, sometimes it's tough, given our crazy schedules. Thanks to TiVo, we get to watch what and who we want when we want and can.
Some people may not realize that, unlike recording shows from videotape, you can start watching a tivoed show before it's finished recording.
You can also tivo a show that has already begun, as long as you press "record" while it is still airing.
For instance, last week, I was just about to publish my Johnny Carson tribute when I learned that KQED was airing a special about the late late-night tv host on the Jim Lehrer show. The show was already 1/2 way through when I turned on the tv. Immediately, I pressed "record" which captured the first half hour, as well as the balance of the show. As a result, I was able to incorporate two great quotes from Dick Cavett and a professor of Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University in my Carson story.
When we met the CFO of TiVo at one of our kid's soccer games a few years ago, I wanted to hug him. And not just because he's a Dartmouth / Stanford guy.
As a mother of two kids, who loves to share the American Idol experience each week with her daughters, a 9:15 - 9:30pm bedtime for a seven and nine year-old is pushing it.
Thanks to TiVo, we can watch the previous night's show over breakfast the following morning.
Speaking of Oprah, if you can believe it, I had never seen the queen of daytime tv in action until this year.
But now, thanks to TiVo, I've set up a Season Pass, so the show automatically records each day. Not that I get to see Oprah every day. But at least I have the option if I can find the time.
To TiVo Debra Messing & Oprah Winfrey
On most stations around the country you can tivo NBC's "Oprah Winfrey Show" at 4pm unless your in LA.
KABC in Los Angeles airs "Oprah" at 3pm and 12:35am.
"Will & Grace" co-starring Debra Messing airs on Thursdays at 8:30pm EST.
Last year, while looking for inspirational content for Rugged Elegant Living I had read about Oprah giving away a car in this season's premier. This intrigued me, so I signed up for a Season Pass to her show via TiVo. Now I'm hooked.
Thanks to TiVo, I can sneak a peak at Oprah at 3am in the morning when the rest of my world is asleep.
In fact, that was the hour I watched Debra Messing give away a TiVo to all the guests on Oprah's show.
Unplanned, Unexpected TiVo Perks
It was also the hour I noticed on TiVo's DirectTV Central menu that they were offering a free look at U2's new "All Because of You" video.
Bono and crew shot this video in Brooklyn and Manhattan on November 22nd 2004 from a flat bed truck. Their video, along with an interview with the band and a 2 minute version of iPod's U2 "Vertigo" video, has now been watched at least a half dozen times by every one of the people in our family.
We would have never seen one of the best music videos ever made -- if we did not have TiVo.
We would also have missed those great Clive Owen BMW mini-movies.
As a TiVo subscriber, you can tell your TiVo to record all the upcoming shows in which Clive Owen appears.
In doing research for this post, I learned that, last week, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt are the actors most TiVo subscribers want to see -- whereas Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick and Woody Allen were the most sought after directors.
The most popular TiVo "Season Pass" program recorded last week was Desperate Housewives (a show we have yet to watch).
24 is the fifth most popular show among those who have set up a TiVo Season Pass.
American Idol is the sixth most popular show.
Oprah is twelvth.
And Will & Grace (another show we have yet to see) is sixteenth on TiVo's most popular list.
Perhaps, on rainy summer days in Maine this year, we will finally watch an episode or two of one of these never before seen, all-the-rage programs.
This June, we plan to transfer to our computer the West Wing shows that we did not have time to see this season.
Two program archiving options include:
TiVo Partners' Humax DRT800 or the
Toshiba RS-TX20 -- TiVo boxes with integrated DVD Player/Recorders.
Both allow you to archive programs to DVD for later viewing.
TiVoToGo
Last month, TiVo announced that users with home computer networks can now share music, photos and recorded TV programs between devices on the network.
Their new service is called TiVoToGo.
TiVo describes this new service as follows:
The TiVoToGo service enhancement allows subscribers to transfer programs from their TiVo box to a laptop to enjoy their favorite shows anywhere, anytime.
The TiVoToGo service enhancement is available at no extra charge as part of the TiVo service.
TiVoToGo adds to a growing list of exclusive features found only on the TiVo service and not available on generic cable or satellite DVR.
These include, Online Scheduling, Season Pass recordings, WishList searches, and home networked music and photos.
"We're all about delivering lifestyle benefits to our subscribers," said Matt Wisk, chief marketing officer at TiVo.
Wisk added:
Consumers don't want to be tied to their living room to watch their favorite entertainment.
Other generic DVRs confine your entertainment experience to the living room, but with TiVoToGo, subscribers can take their favorite shows with them to enjoy on business trips or family vacations.
That would be us!
If we had a Series2 TiVo and a PC (we're Mac people), we could transfer the shows to a LaCie Silverscreen multimedia hard-drive.
The LaCie Silverscreen is a USB hard drive that also plugs into TVs, VCRs, cable boxes or satellite tuners with an AV cable for instant playback of stored movies, music or photos.
Plug and play on your PC or Mac through Hi-Speed USB to store data and then view your media on almost any TV or monitor.
LaCie Silverscreen is compatible with HDTV quality video and Dolby Digital or DTS quality audio.
The company promises there will be no compromise on quality with home theaters.
LaCie's hard drives will begin shipping in February. The cost: $250 for the 40 GB or $330 for their 80 GB hard drive.
Future TiVo Investments Available Now
Next on the horizon will be our investment in a HD-TV screen which will require a third TiVo upgrade.
Because HD-TV requires a bigger hard-drive we plan to upgrade to a Toshiba RD-XS52 DVD Player/Recorder.
Great TiVo Hard Drive Repair & Upgrade Services
If you are already a TiVo customer, or one of the lucky few hundred on Oprah's show the other day, and you're in need of customer service, look no further than WeaKnees.
These guys are amazing.
While TiVo offers the product and the subscription service, they do not offer TiVo hard drive repair and upgrade service.
Don't panic.
No need to get weak in the knees... as long as you turn to the guys by that name.
TiVo Parties: A Cost-Effective Way To Market Their Service
Mr. Wisk, if you're listening, I've always thought the way to market TiVo is like the old days of Tupperware parties. You get people like us to invite all their friends over to watch the Super Bowl, American Idol or the Academy Awards.
No hard sell is required.
Just show off TiVo-in-action and TiVo sells itself.
All you need is a prompt for your evangelists to "close" the sale -- perhaps available directly from their TiVo menu.
You've now got the brand recognition.
Your 2+ million subscribers have got to be fairly savvy people.
Take Laura Ries of Ries & Ries marketing in Atlanta. In her Origin of Brands Blog the owner of two TiVos spoke last August about TiVo's challenges. Scott Miller, one of her readers, who commented on her post said:
Had I been CEO of Tivo, I would have focused on PR 100% (and thus driven word-of-mouth), and made sure every influential writer in the USA got one for free. Everyone who has one loves it, and loves to brag about how it completely changes the way you watch TV, making it so much more enjoyable and productive. But in ways that are often difficult to explain.
I say, it's not too late.
Spend the balance of the current $50 million advertising budget by giving away the box.
Subscriptions is where it's at.
Every time one of your "evangelists" has a party send them enough TiVo boxes as party favors for their guests -- free-of-charge. Your evangelists and TiVo will do the rest in selling TiVo's service.
Incentive For Your Current Customers To Be Salespeople
To make selling simple, TiVo could set up an Affiliate program.
Offer incentives to current dedicated customers by getting them to help you sell the service from their home.
Customers could sign up to become affiliates directly from the TiVo menu or via TiVo.com.
We would do it, in a heart beat. Meanwhile, for every Oprah customer who signs up for your service, you ought to send Debra Messing a commission check. She tackled her life long fear while touting TiVo in the best way!
About TiVo Inc.
Founded in 1997 by Jim Barton and Michael Ramsey, TiVo, a pioneer in home entertainment, created a brand new category of products with the development of the first digital video recorder (DVR).
Today, the Company continues to revolutionize the way consumers watch and access home entertainment by making TiVo the focal point of the digital living room, a center for sharing and experiencing television, music, photos and other content.
TiVo connects consumers to the digital entertainment they want, where and when they want it.
The Company is based in Alviso, California.
TiVo shares are publicly traded on Nasdaq. Their symbol: TIVO.
To learn more about the fate of top management at TiVo, go to an insightful article that appeared this week in USA Today.
Word on the street is the company needs a maverick like Steve Jobs to take over the helm of the TiVo ship.
TiVo would do well to sell their company to Steve Jobs. Or at least act like the maverick.
Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff made the comment:
Saying I'd like to get someone like Steve Jobs is like saying I'd like to get someone like Al Pacino to be the lead in my movie.
Whether it's Steve Jobs, Blair Westlake, Roxanne Austin, Barry Schuler, Ted Leonsis or Greg Gudorf, they ought to put Debra Messing on their payroll.
Debra Messing would make a great "large, live audience" spokesperson!
Inspire & Be Inspired.
Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "two hundred TiVo lovers today, two million more tomorrow" living -- this year!
~ Jennifer Carolyn King
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This week on The Oprah Winfrey Show Emmy award-winning "
