TiVo’s Future
It wasn’t a pretty picture 10 years ago at TiVo, known as the DVR company back then. Share price had plummeted to less than $1 by early 2005. The company’s co-founder and then chmn Mike Ramsay stepped down. And analysts were pessimistic about the company’s future. Since then, however, TiVo has basically reinvented itself, becoming a whole-home media service provider, partnering up with pay-TV ops and tapping into research and analytics. In 2Q, MSO cable subscription additions grew 56% YOY. Total TiVo subscriptions are now more than 6mln (It was below 1 million back in 2011). Tier 2 and Tier 3 pay-TV providers have been the company’s sweet spot, and it recently scored a distribution deal with NCTC, which includes 850 mid-tier ops with a combined 10mln sub base. The deal came as NCTC is investing in a common back office integration platform, which will eventually connect the TiVo service with multiple billing systems and authentication platforms.
Meanwhile, TiVo has focused on growing its research and analytics business. TiVo Research scored several deals in 2Q. Media companies including Viacom will work with TiVo on audience targeting and other initiatives. And digital and mobile audience intelligent platforms including Quantcast and NinthDecimal will be using TiVo’s data to target TV audiences and measure effectiveness for online and mobile advertising. After all these years, TiVo might have
