TiVo & iTunes - Calculating the Value of Time
Posted by dave on December 18, 2006 at 02:03 PM
Yesterday while watching TiVoed episodes of The Office and searching around online, I came across a Time Value Calculator. Although only mildly useful, this tool got me thinking - What is time really worth?
Is it worth the $70.00 a month subscription fee to TiVo all your favorite shows, or the $1.99 to download an episode of your favorite show from iTunes to watch at your convenience?
For me personally, $1.99 seems like a small price to pay for the convenience of seeing a commercial free version of an hour long show condensed down to 40 minutes and viewable anytime I want. Given recent numbers showing that over 4 million households have a TiVo subscription, the tens of millions of TV and movie downloads on iTunes, and even the fact that networks are now offering episodes of shows online, I am not alone. Time is a very valuable commodity, and anything that can help save or restructure it around my needs is very useful.
As more and more consumers convert their viewing habits to these new forms of media distribution that put the control in their hands, and realize how convenient and time-saving these alternatives can be, it becomes increasingly apparent that the traditional TV delivery format needs to adapt if it wants to stay competitive.
After all, isn't your time worth more than $1.99 an hour?
Comments (5)
Posted on December 19, 2006 08:08 AM
Good point. I'm barely into my 30s, and just in my lifetime so far there have been amazing technical advances that are supposed to save us time and make our lives easier. Anymore, it seems these advances are merely distractions from what is really important. Of course, it's up to all of us to figure out what is most important and use time wisely. Making the most of technology doesn't mean much if you're not also making the most of time.
W3rd to yo mutha.
Posted on December 19, 2006 10:02 AM
Yeah, I'm thinking you were drunk or high or something when you wrote this "article"! I say "article" Dave, because it's a bunch of "dookie", and I don't think the blog would let me type S.H.*.*. (if you get my drift). From the TiVo webiste, a minimum 1 year plan can be purchased for $199. Right now, they have a deal where you can get an extra year for free, but we'll assume that it's the 199 for a year. That works out to about 16.59 a month.
If you were of the mind, you could TiVo shows 24-7. But I'll be kind. let's say I Tivo 4 hours of programming a day. (It's actually more, but I'll be generous to iTunes.) That works out to 112 hours in a 4 week, 28 day month. Divide 16.59 by 112, and you get 14.8 cents a show. Fourteen point eight cents!!! That means for EVERY one hour show I buy on iTunes, I could purchase over 13 shows on TiVo!!!
Dude, smoke another bong. Under YOUR math, TiVo subscribers would be paying 840 a year for programming!
Posted on December 19, 2006 03:08 PM
So, that's how you get a response to a blog. I didn't mean to send anyone's blood pressure through the roof or cause a collapse of apocalyptical proportions by not properly qualifying that the 70.00 a month fee would include the monthly cable bill - which you would need to use TiVo, unless your favorite TV show is static. So I apologize.
As for the other figures asked about, the $2.00 coincides with the cost of downloading a show from iTunes. As for being forced to watch the show at your desk, there are a number of AV connection kits ranging from $20 - $100 that allow you to watch shows downloaded to your iPod on your TV.
But based on that, lets see... $17.00 a month for TiVo + $50.00 a month for cable = $67.00 a month. $67.00/$2.00 a month, the cost of downloading a show on iTunes (no cable or dish fee needed), I get $33.5. Based on that, I would need to download 34 shows a month or 8 shows a week in iTunes to make TiVo a better investment.
Now, I'm not saying one is better than the other, it is just a matter of how you spend your time. If you spend a great deal of time watching TV, then TiVo would be a better choice. If your time is spent elsewhere, with TV being only a small part of daily routine, then iTunes would be a better choice.
On a side note, the point of the original post was not to debate the value of TiVo vs iTunes. It was just to point out that time is becoming an increasingly valuable commodity that people are always looking for new ways to create more of it and to be competitive, more traditional forms of media and advertising need to adapt to this trend.
Also, although I do not encourage bong hits, I hear that they can help mellow a person out.
Posted on December 28, 2006 10:50 AM
Butyou all miss one of the most important aspects. The show I tivo'ed off the cable (or better yet satellite) is high quality and can be projected onto my ten foot screen. That pathetic download is barely watchable on my computer screen. Give me an HDTV iTunes video and I would consider it.
Posted on December 18, 2006 08:21 PM
1. How did you come up with the $70 monhtly subscription fee for Tivo?
2. Where the heck do you get the $1.99 per hour figure from? Are you comparing downloading a show on iTunes with watching it "live" with commericals? In that case, I think the figure would be closer to $6 and hour.
3. But better yet, what about the other "costs" of iTunes....having to watch the show at your desk...and paying $1.99 for each show. If you watched only 1 show a day, how much would that cost you per month?