Whether you’re a fan of technology or a fan of business innovation, you have to admire the creativity that TiVo (Alviso, CA; www.tivo.com) has brought to its business model since its founding in 1997. A Yahoo! partnership has brought Internet content to TVs through its set-top box. Amazon Unbox on TiVo is a breakthrough service for buying movies. Last month, TiVo announced a deal with RealNetworks to offer Rhapsody online music service through its DVR. Now, in the latest news, TiVo has signed up two heavyweights, Carat and NBC Universal, for its viewer research services that can tell companies the statistics of what TiVo viewers are watching and when.

John DiLoreto
Analyst and Editor for
Insight Media

In the NBC deal, the technological twist is that programs can display an advertiser’s logo that the user can click on for more information. Neat technology, but for all this innovation, the Silicon Valley company still struggles to make a profit.

Launching the service about a year ago, NBC Universal is the first major TV broadcaster to sign up for TiVo’s viewer research in a partnership that will help advertisers better reach TV watchers. In the multi-year deal with NBCU, its 14 television networks and 10 stations will sell TiVo’s interactive advertising products.

TiVo also has signed Carat, one of the largest media buyers and fastest growing marketing communications groups. In addition to accessing DVR viewing behavior, TiVo and Carat will also work to educate Carat clients on ways to reach ad-skipping viewers with TiVo interactive solutions.

TiVo’s viewer research service offers second-by-second ratings of programs and commercials, based on the TV-watching of its users. This month, TiVo added demographic data, such as age, income, ethnicity and marital status for 20,000 TiVo households who opted to take part in a consumer panel, according to the release. The sortable database tracks the specific viewership for nationally run programs and advertisements in both live and time-shifted viewing contexts.

The service competes with Nielsen Media Research, a longstanding source of TV viewer research. Demand for DVR-specific information is increasing, as more people use devices that can skip commercials. Part of the attraction of TiVo’s demographic data is the ability to see which groups of people are watching which commercials.

Meanwhile, TiVo is pressured by cable, satellite and telephone companies that sell their own DVRs to subscribers. Besides the ad-information market, TiVo has also been trying to increase the role its DVR plays in the home by adding network routing functions, Information Week said.

A profit, unfortunately, been more elusive that headlines for the company whose name has become a verb in American households. TiVo also announced this week narrowing losses of $8M in the recent quarter. We’ll see if the impressive trail of innovation can lead to the company’s financial success on a scale with its entrenchment in American culture.

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