ROKU - Is There Room for TiVo in the Platform Wars?
Before streaming video services like Netflix were cutting into the cable and advertising businesses, TV viewers were fast-forwarding through ads with the help of TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO).
The success of TiVo's digital video recorder (DVR) products had far-reaching consequences for cable networks and advertisers. The rise of TiVo's DVRs anticipated the popularity of subscription video on demand (SVOD) services like Netflix and Disney-owned Hulu by allowing users to transform live TV into on-demand content. TiVo also helped fuel the "sports bubble" that saw advertisers drawn to live sporting events over all-too-often DVR'd non-sports content.
But the success of Netflix and other on-demand services -- including Hulu, which makes episodes of many shows available just one day after they air -- has lessened the appeal of the DVR, even as legacy pay-TV providers have started cutting TiVo out by providing their own DVR devices.