Your next TV set may show you advertising spots you actually like

For years, cable companies have been dreaming about personalizing TV advertising. If ad spots weren’t just geared towards broad demographics but fine-tuned to the things you watch and other data available about you, then you’d be less bored and brands would be willing to pay more. Or so goes the logic. Unfortunately, efforts to get this off the ground based on cable set-top boxes have largely failed. Now, the focus may be shifting to TV set makers. At the coming CES in Las Vegas, media data provider Gracenote is going to demonstrate a proof-of-concept of technology that puts ad-swapping power right into the TV set. Gracenote is using video recognition technology to identify ad breaks, and will be able to insert ads based on the demographic of a viewer, as well as knowledge about what kind of shows he or she has watched in the past.