TiVo to measure power of TV show promos

NEW YORK - DVR pioneer TiVo Inc. on Wednesday unveiled new research offerings, including the ability to measure what percentage of TiVo users exposed to a TV program promo ultimately tune in to watch it.

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The new audience research and measurement capabilities, which launch next month, are part of a new version of the company's anonymous StopWatch commercial ratings service.

TiVo said the new services will help improve markerters' and TV networks' "ability to more clearly understand how viewers watch TV, going beyond what other research companies are able to offer."

Among the other new TiVo research offers is the ability to measure the viewing activity of one specified target group and compare it to another. For example, "one target may time-shift far more heavily than another, while another target may view commercials more during 'The Today Show' and on the Food Network," TiVo explained.

The DVR pioneer will also start measuring the return advertisers are getting from additional spots or from ads viewed time-shifted.

For example, the first week of a campaign may reach 25%, and each additional week may gain 5%, but by week four, the incremental added reach is zero, suggesting they should stop running the campaign or change it. As another example, TiVo cited a recent campaign run by a major insurance advertiser that saw a 10% gain in unduplicated reach for spots viewed timeshifted.