TIVO, INC.
TEACHING NOTE
KEY WORDS:
different?
SUMMARY:
Will TiVo be TiVo or TiVo ?
For some people, TiVo is a very delicate addition to the entertainment sets at
HD TV trend in particular is expected to reach 24 Million US households, will this
change people’s perception of TiVo and help TiVo pick up its losses to be profitable in
many years to come?
There is no doubt that TiVo has been offering great products in the past and will
continue to innovatively do so in the future, however, in order for TiVo to survive and
grow, they need to dominate or at least gain a big chunk of the market share within the
Thus, with many, supposedly, supporting factors such as the increasing trend of
HD usage among the consumers, decreasing prices of HD Products, and most importantly
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. To understand the business life cycle of a “TiVo-like” industries which are hi-tech
companies, and the trends of the industry itself. This is a very competitive industry and
continue to decrease, while its subscription revenues may or may not increase which
depends on the effort / strategy the company puts into, simultaneously, between one
product to ensure its survivalship.
2. To understand the typical paradigm of hi-tech products and companies, which
typically operate with extreme demands fluctuations and competitive pressure. In this
case, TiVo strategically managed the downturn of the company by strategically
introducing the HD-TiVo and taking advantage of the use of WiFi. For this type of
products, extreme demands fluctuations are such as continuous change and quickly
having to adapt to people’s lifestyle and habits through creative ideas, fulfilling demands
and most of all retaining customers and making sure that TiVo really made a difference
amongst its competitors and that customers should have the perception that TiVo is more
worth it than the other DVRs.
STUDY QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
1. People might think that a company with a truly revolutionary product and deeply
devoted customers wouldn’t have to fret about mere survival, but TiVo does. Why?
to just threw away the empire it has built so far with the brand name that made them the
known one as the DVR. It already has the right people, the right killer product, it’s just a
more innovative products.
2. Will TiVo become a great company with a big name in the future of hi-tech
industry and further more become a pop culture or Will it go down in history with
its one time fame?
down the line around for the past six years trying to devise a path to profitability. TiVo’s
intrinsic value may be inspirational, not financial. Investors are certainly not happy with
the outcome of TiVo despite its new HD TiVo.
Based on TiVo’s financial report, TiVo has not been properly allocating its money
correctly. The cost of revenues took more than 50% of its revenues is one thing. TiVo
could find additional savings by reducing the number of chips, the costs and such. Poor
reinvestment strategy is another thing which may be fixed by hiring a new CFO or
Creative and inspirational products like TiVo can be sensational, but if a company is not
financially supported, it will go down with one time fame.
TiVo may have been in an action that at a friend’s house is one of the company’s best
about it.
3. What do you do when the product you pioneered is being sold better, and for less,
by someone else?
enticing and meaningful reasons!
TiVo signed a deal to put its technology inside set-top boxes from cable giant Comcast.
Selling its own standalone DVR boxes probably won’t bring in the revenue its investors
DVRs, focus on diversification!
One of the reason being, for the less technologically savvy crowd, it isn’t a hard choice
from the local cable company.
For example, access to Comcast’s large customer base should help TiVo in the long run,
but only if cable customers see the value in the service. Success in attracting new users
We have seen lately, the collaboration of TiVo with Amazon and TiVo with Podcast.
This is just one of the many steps TiVo has yet to make to be on that survival level and
still a long way to go.
4. a. What is the main marketing strategy for TiVo?
In the present time, the main marketing strategy for TiVo through word of mouth and
some internet banners. However, we have to understand that word-of-mouth marketing
can be used as a double-edged sword. If it is a positive publicity, then TiVo will be able
b. And is the strategy sufficient to bring glory or at least give the profitability for
TiVo?
The main focus of TiVo has been their R&D, thus, they have not allocate sufficient
c. Finally, are changes needed in order for TiVo to perform better, in terms of
marketing their product?
Some of the changes that would help TiVo to perform better is to increase and carefully