Tivo Showcase Promos for Fall Shows Convert 42.2% of Ad Viewers into Show Watchers.

Tivo Showcase, a way for Tivo subscribers to request ads, is emerging as a pinpoint promotion tool for Fall Premieres.  Eleven percent of IMMI’s Panel Members checked out a TV show promo on Showcase between August 24 and October 3.  Of these panel members 42.2% watched one of the promoted shows on the night of its premiere. 

IMMI tracked promos for shows on ABC, NBC, and CBS during a nearly six week period before the Fall premieres.  The conversion totals for all three networks shows combined were impressive.  ABC ran their promotions the longest.  

For example:  Tivo Showcase carried a sixty-second promo for the premiere of Big Shots.  It was selected by 2.7% of IMMI panel members.  Of the panel members who viewed the promo, 20.5% went on to view the show. 

Frequency in the chart is the number of times each panel member who viewed the promo saw it.  The low frequency numbers indicate that, as expected, most panel members watched a particular promo only once.  Once was apparently enough given the high conversion rates.

These high conversions at low frequencies may be because only viewers actually interested in the programs selected the promos from the Showcase in the first place.  This is a “pull” model where most of the viewers of a particular preview are panel members who were already interested in it,  or interested in seeing a premiere show.

A key question is how a platform like the Tivo Showcase might compare to another very popular “pull” platform, the Internet.  The high penetration of ad exposure on the panel compares quite favorably to any given website – there is only one showcase but millions of sites.  Few sites achieve a reach of 11% of the IMMI panel.

In addition, the value of using television to promote television seems clear. In a recent study IMMI tracked the behavior of panel members who watched an Internet promo for the premiere of a police drama.  Of those who watched the promo, 10.4% went on to watch the show.  All of the Showcase ABC promos with significant results out-converted the Internet promo.