TiVo Expands Market Research Efforts with New Panel

Publicis-owned media planning and buying company Starcom USA is the first media agency to use a new TV advertising measurement effort launched by TiVo.

The goal of the new Power Watch Consumer Panel is to provide advertisers with insights into the demographics and ad-watching behavior of 20,000 television viewing households with TiVo digital video recording units.

TiVo hopes to sell the data to TV advertisers looking for better detail on viewer behavior, data that will be narrowed to an advertiser’s target segments.

In announcing the new panel TiVo said the fact that the 20,000 households have volunteered to participate will allow it to “associate household data with the viewership data.” While the households will remain anonymous, the ability to associate the data means program and ad viewership reports can be “looked at by aggregate demographic and behavioral audience groups,” according to TiVo.

The information will be available to TiVo’s StopWatch ratings service subscribers. They’ll be able to buy “custom segmentation” reports based on customer responses to questions they design. Starcom was the first agency to sign-up for StopWatch — which provides continuous monitoring of TV program and commercial viewing — and it will be given exclusive access to the first study.

TiVo plans to conduct quarterly “omnibus” surveys of all Power Watch panelists. Stop Watch clients can craft their own questions and participate in those surveys.

The Power Watch panel will include TiVo-related measurements such as the number of TiVos in a household, the length of time a household has subscribed to TiVo, the form of Internet connection at the house and the type of television delivery being used, be it analog cable, digital cable, satellite or over-the-air broadcast.