By Robert Goldrich
ALVISO, Calif. --The ad-friendly strategy unveiled late last year by TiVo (SHOOT, 11/26/04, p. 1) is now starting to be implemented. Over this past weekend, TiVo released the first in a series of advertising features–fast-forward “tagging”–to a random, relatively small number of subscribers.
Via tagging, when viewers fast-forward past an ad, an embedded graphic pops up on screen to notify them of the commercial. If the pop-up tag is of interest to a prospective consumer, he or she can request to see more and to access more information.
The initiative is a far cry from the commercial-skipping capability that made TiVo famous, if not infamous, in some circles of the advertising community. The new feature enables clients to still have a chance of reaching consumers even when they fast-forward past commercials.
Tagging is among a series of planned features that could potentially generate information for advertisers, helping them to gauge consumer interest. This interactivity was part of TiVo’s recently struck distribution deal with Comcast. TiVo’s stock rose upon last month’s announcement of that arrangement whereby TiVo service will be made widely available to Comcast customers in most of the cable company’s U.S. markets.
Additionally, TiVo and Comcast plan to team on the development of a version of the TiVo service for Comcast’s existing digital recording platform. TiVo intends to devise software that will be incorporated into Comcast’s current primary platform.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More