No kidding: TiVo service to encourage skipping to the ads

[Renew Deal]

Subscribers who choose to use the search service can create a profile intended to tailor ads to their interests

By Stacy Cowley, IDG News Service
November 28, 2005

After introducing a generation of television viewers to the joys of skipping over ads, TiVo Inc. plans to launch a new service to let its subscribers seek out the advertisements they've cut loose from their TV viewing.

DVR (digital video recorder) maker TiVo is positioning the new service, scheduled for a mid-2006 launch, as a way for subscribers to find targeted ads in categories that interest them. The opt-in technology will let TiVo subscribers use keyword searches to look for information on specific products or services.

A group of top advertising agencies, including the Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc., Starcom MediaVest Group and Comcast Corp.'s cable's ad sales division, are working with TiVo to develop the ad service, which will be free for subscribers. Pricing for advertisers is still being determined.

Based in Alviso, California, TiVo reports 1.3 million subscribers for its DVR service but has never turned an annual profit in its eight-year history. By branching out into the targeted advertising business, TiVo is looking to tap a market companies like Google (Profile, Products, Articles) Inc. have so successfully exploited on the Internet.
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http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/11/28/HNtivoservice_1.html?source=NLC-TB2005-11-28