TiVo Working on Ad Search Feature
The company that empowered television viewers to zip through commercials now wants consumers to watch them instead. TiVo Inc. said last week that it plans to introduce technology next spring that will let TV viewers search for specific ads.The service will let subscribers search for a product by category or keyword, then TiVo would deliver matching commercials to the consumer's set-top box.
"TiVo intends to capture the best of the Internet advertising model and create a unique advertising product for the television medium that will provide measurable results," Davina Kent, vice president of national advertising sales at TiVo, said in a statement.
TiVo, Alviso, CA, worked with agencies including Interpublic Media, OMD, Starcom Mediavest Group, The Richards Group and Comcast Spotlight to develop the service. Agency research is contributing to determine pricing models and relevant categories of interest, such as automotive, travel, telecommunications and consumer packaged goods.
"We recognize that consumer media usage is changing and are committed to seeking out opportunities … to continue to deliver [to] our clients with maximum return on investment in their media choices," Interpublic Media chairman/CEO Mark Rosenthal said in a statement.
Individual TiVo customers will be able use set-top boxes to contribute personal profile information so they can receive advertising based on their specific interests.
