TiVo PayPerPost Update: Program Killed

TiVo has pulled the plug on their PayPerPost advertising program.

Following this forum thread, it appears that TiVo did intend to have a 5 second “bumper” on each video indicating it was a paid/sponsored clip – either TiVo or PayPerPost dropped the ball in delivering (and explaining) that asset to participants in a timely fashion. Regardless, later in the thread, notice that all participants have been instructed to pull any/all posts and YouTube videos off the net.

I’ve been in touch with TiVo’s PR agency (and TiVo) on this issue several times over the last 30 hours or so. I truly believe this was an honest error in judgment on TiVo’s part while exploring new ways to promote themselves online. I give them credit for listening to the feedback (Davis, Megazone, Read/Write Web, Valleywag) and responding immediately by killing the program.

8 thoughts on “TiVo PayPerPost Update: Program Killed”

  1. I love Tivo – very sorry their folks weren’t better informed about how this would be perceived – I honestly don’t think that well trusted, high value brands should use a PayPerPost tactic ever. Be real, encourage gennuine storytelling by making it easier for people to get information about the company. Join the conversation via more blogging and continue to participate in the user communities…

  2. BS. Tons of “well trusted, high value brands” are using PayPerPost “tactics”. I hate statements like that. It’s so generic and general.

  3. As I said, I don’t think trusted brands should use PayPerPost tactics – that has nothing to do with whether any of them are doing so today – if you disagree, I would love to hear a real comment refuting that perspective, explaining why they should do so, rather than generically calling BS.

  4. How is it a “tactic” when having people create videos or advertisements for you? It’s just like any other marketing or advertising.

  5. Why is it that so many seemingly smart ‘posties’ (ie, the people who love getting paid to shill for companies without honestly disclosing they are getting paid to do so) continue to misunderstand basic definitions of simple words. For your edification and others, here is the definition http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tactic

    Mr. Dew – its not like other other marketing tactics if you are not very clear about the fact that it is a paid advertisement. People know the difference between commercials and tv shows, but they don’t know the difference between a bog post written by a raving fan and one written by some postie who is just doing it for the money, not out of love for the product/service.

    And before you ask, no, your disclosure GIF does not adequately count towards fair and ethical disclosure – if it did, it would be machine readable text that would be searchable by Google, not a GIF image.

  6. I applaud Tiv for dropping PayPerPost. Let’s chalk this up to not knowing any better. I wonder, however, how Tivo didn’t know about the bad feelings that many people have for PayPerPost. Are they that out of touch with the blogosphere?

  7. >LetÂ’s chalk this up to not knowing any better.

    Yeah, you can chalk up a heck of alot of what TiVo does to not knowing any better. ;)

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