TiVo's New Ad Strategy Tunes Into Viewer Choice

Often shorthand for television advertising's troubles, TiVo is bidding to be synonymous with the interactive future of TV ads.TiVo last week deployed technology to allow its 3 million digital video recorder customers to interact with commercials. Advertisers can insert tags into their regular TV spots to display a brand icon and call to action when TiVo users are watching or fast-forwarding. Clicks take viewers to an area with long-form content and the ability to get more information.The new features, combined with advances in video on demand and interactive TV, point to a world in which viewers choose the marketing messages they watch. Rather than fret about "the TiVo effect" making it harder to reach consumers, some agency executives see the ad tags as a tool to improve ads and further engage consumers.David Lubars, creative director at Omnicom Group's BBDO, won widespread acclaim for his use of long-form content in the BWM Films Web campaign while at Fallon Worldwide. He said moving the TV ad model from intrusion to invitation would unleash creativity in agencies because they would be free of the artificial constraints of standard commercials. He said, "The answer is to do something so cool and engaging that they want to come."The ad-tagging feature is TiVo's latest attempt to expand its advertising business. The hub of TiVo's ad offerings is TiVo Showcase, a sponsored area that has been used by advertisers like Best Buy and BMW to attract viewers with branded entertainment. Despite the fact that so many DVR owners use the device to zap commercials—71 percent, according to Jupiter Research—David Courtney, TiVo's CFO and head of ad services, sees the ad tag option as part of TiVo's mission to turn control over to viewers. "That doesn't mean they want to skip commercials," he said. "It means they want information on products and services that are relevant to them."The WB Network and General Motors are the first two advertisers using TiVo's ad tagging. The WB is letting viewers click to record episodes featured in promos. GM is including tags in commercials for its GMC, Chevrolet, Saturn and its OnStar system. Viewers can choose to receive more information by e-mail or brochure."Events like this only underline the fact that TV is going to transform from being just a reach vehicle to also being an engagement and/or direct marketing vehicle," said Tim Hanlon, svp at GM's media agency, Publicis Groupe's Starcom MediaVest. TiVo is charging advertisers based on the length of the content offered and the campaign's duration, but Courtney said it might add performance pricing.With TiVo becoming an option to 21.5 million Comcast homes next year, its base should grow, allowing it to target ad invitations using both geography and even TV-viewing behavior, said Courtney. In this way, a viewer recording golf programs could be offered a Nike-sponsored Tiger Woods video. Advertisers using TiVo ad tags will get better data on the performance of their commercials, such as how many people chose to view their content and for how long. "Once you can go deeper in the commercial," said Joseph Jaffe, author of Life After the 30-Second Spot, "then you're talking to the 10 percent of your consumers who are responsible for 90 percent of your revenues."

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TiVo's New Ad Strategy Tunes Into Viewer Choice

Brian Morrissey

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