TiVo Product Watch Sports Long-Form Ads

TiVo's new Product Watch lets advertisers target viewers with long-form advertisements. But will anyone tune in?

DVR pioneer TiVo today announced a new advertising mechanism called Product Watch, enabling advertisers to target users with long-form advertisements and product information when users are specifically looking for products in particular categories. Users will create search parameters for brands, services, and products which interest them, and be able to view ads and product info in TiVo’s Now Playing section.

TiVo says more than 70 advertisers and 100 leading brands will be participating in Product Watch at launch, and Kraft Foods, General Motors, Sony Pictures, and Lending Tree are on board as premium advertisers n their categories. Product Launch will initially have five broad categories: Entertainment, Financial, Travel & Leisure, Lifestyles, and Automotive.

According to TiVo, subscribers will be able to create searches and select ads to be delivered to their Now Playing section of the TiVo Service. Subscribers will be able to “opt-in” to a brand to automatically receive content directly from that company. Ads will range from 1 to 60 minutes in length.

“TiVo Product Watch will, for the first time, enable TV viewers to get commercial information about a product they are interested, when they want it, rather than through traditional TV advertising, where a viewer has no control of what ad comes on when they are watching a program,:” said Tom Rogers, President and CEO of TiVo. “TiVo is committed to creating advertising products that deliver real, relevant results for our advertising partners while at the same time enhancing the TV experience for subscribers.”

Although TiVo and its partners seem to have lined up a number of companies and brands to participate in Product Watch, it’s an open question how many of TiVo’s 4.4 million subscribers will are to tune in to advertising