Amazon and TiVo Team on TV Ad Links

Amazon and TiVo have announced plans to let customers make purchases from Amazon directly from onscreen links in television programming.

Folks were wondering what Amazon’s forthcoming Internet-based video-on-demand service might mean for the deal the company had struck with TiVo and its existing Unbox service. Well, wonder no more: Amazon and TiVo have announced a new partnership called Product Purchase that will enable consumers to buy products from Amazon using their TiVo remote by way of onscreen links that will appear in selected programming. The first shows slated to leverage the new feature are The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, USA’s Burn Notice, and Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report and The Daily Show.

“Product Purchase adds a whole new dimension to the TV viewing experience,” said TiVo’s director for broadband services Evan Young, in a statement. “By teaming with Amazon.com, TiVo enables viewers to purchase products related to their favorite TV shows or that they’ve seen in TV ads without leaving their couch. “

Product Purchase will operate using the TiVo Swivel Search feature; users will be able to select a product and add it to their Amazon.com shopping cart, where it can be purchased later during checkout. The service will secure purchases with a PIN code associated with a user’s Amazon.com account…so, in theory, there’s no worry about Little Timmy wracking up a $1,000 bill on DragonBall Z paraphernalia while you’re out mowing the back yard.

Of course, advertisers are all in favor of new technologies that let people spend money with as little effort or thought as possible—and the embedded Product Purchase technology also has the advantage of working during recorded and time-shifted programming.

The new feature launches today and will appear on broadband-connected TiVo Series3 and TiVO HD DVRs.