TiVo Is Watching When You Don't Watch, and It Tattles

TIVO IS WATCHING WHEN YOU DON'T WATCH, AND IT TATTLES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
TiVo is starting a research division to sell data about how its 4.4 million users watch -- or don't watch -- commercials. The service is based on an analysis of the second-by-second viewing patterns of a nightly sample of 20,000 TiVo users, whose recorders report back to TiVo on what was watched and when. On average, TiVo has found that its users spend nearly half of their television time watching programs recorded earlier. And viewers of those recorded shows skip about 70 percent of the commercials. But TiVo says that at a more detailed level there are wide variations in the numbers. The new research service, which is intended mainly for advertisers, could help them understand how to get more people to watch recorded commercials, like changing the content of ads or running them during certain kinds of programming.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/technology/26adco.html
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