CBE, Qatar University

12
Case Report: HBR TiVo in 2002 (Consumer Behavior)
Marketing Management, Fall 2012
Eagles Team

1. Introduction: This brief report attempts to tackle the HBR TiVo in 2002 case study. The report highlights the main issues facing the company in 2002 and then proceeds to analyze the internal and the external environments around TiVo at the time with a special focus on relating the analysis to consumer behavior. The report finally ends with proposing a number of solutions that can be applied by TiVo to resolve the issues at hand based on a better understanding of TiVo customers’ buying behavior. 2. Background on TiVo Inc.: * TiVo Inc. was founded by Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay in 1997 * Under
TiVo had invested a lot into R&D to develop sophisticated DVR software with an appealing and intuitive user interface and existing TiVo customers were quite satisfied with it. In addition to that, TiVo introduced innovative features like Trick Play and recording TV shows based on the users’ interests and preferences. In this regards, TiVo had a competitive advantage against its rivals, and TiVo knew that it needed to protect that advantage by defending its copyrighted software and hardware features against those who try to violate it. Nevertheless, TiVo was apparently failing to use its technological advantage in a way that can raise the awareness of potential buying customers to alter their perception of the product’s value. 5.2.2 The Socio-Cultural Environment: Consumers nowadays tend to spend more hours watching TV and consuming video content than ever before. Prior to the introduction of DVRs, however; consumers’ behavior towards the way they want and need to consume TV and video content remained virtually unchanged. TiVo seemed to want to break the familiar TV consumption culture by allowing consumers to control the timing of watching their favorite TV shows and movies. TiVo also broke the usual usage pattern by enabling consumers to skip ads. Although at first glance, one would think that customers would be greeting these changes with welcoming arms, the message conveyed by TiVo at the time seemed to be improperly