TiVo Stopwatch Service Watches Ad Skipping

TiVo Inc reshaped television by allowing viewers to skip right past commercials when they save their favorite shows on digital video recorders -- and made life far tougher for advertisers in the process.

Now TiVo is attempting to make it up to the advertisers and broadcasters, selling them data that show exactly what viewers are watching during every second of every show.  The idea behind its Stop Watch service, begun just over a year ago, is to create a fuller picture of TV viewing habits. That helps an advertiser understand how its commercial is playing: Do audiences skip it entirely? Stay around for a few seconds? Watch the whole spot?

Last Word:  One of the greatest challenges we face in the new world of media is access to accurate and timely data.  TiVo’s Stopwatch service provides good insight in this area.  With other players like Google, Nielsen and now cable/satellite companies like Charter and DirecTV getting into the data game, we would expect this area to improve dramatically in the next 6-12 months.  Stay tuned for TiVo’s new Power Watch service, coming out at the end of the year.  Power Watch features a panel of TiVo subscribers who have volunteered information like age, income, race, marital status, and even favorite products.

 

Read the full story on Reuters.com