DVR pioneer TiVo is launching a new service aimed to give advertisers everything they want: detailed demographic and viewing behavior information on TiVo users. Consumer and privacy advocates might balk at the idea of collecting that sort of information at all, let alone handing it over to advertisers—but according to TiVo, the 20,000 households in the panel have all volunteered to participate.
Dubbed the Power Watch Consumer Panel, the service offers demographic and viewing behavior data to advertisers collected from 20,000 TiVo households who have opted-in to the viewshi panel. TiVo offers the data to advertisers in aggregate form, and TiVo all data are anonymized to protect the privacy of panelists. Advertisers in TiVo’s Stop Watch service—which offers second-by-second rating data on TiVo usage—will be able to pose custom questions to the panel and look at TV viewing based on consumer responses. All this data, TiVo says, will give advertisers insights into audience behaviors and help them better attract and retain consumers’ attention, as well as buy their advertising blocks more effectively.
“With 20,000 households, the Power Watch Consumer Panel will provide a new level of detail on DVR viewing behavior among any given brand’s target segments that will significantly enhance the approach advertisers take in creating and buying advertising on television,” said Todd Juenger, TiVo’s VP amd General Manager of Audience Research and Measurement.
Media communications firm Starcom USA is on board as TIVo’s first Power Watch Consumer Panel partner, and will have exclusive access to the first Power Watch study. TiVo plans to conduct Power Watch surveys four times a year; after the first one, all Stop Watch clients will be able to load those surveys with their own questions.
