Yahoo! and TiVo

An analyst in this Reuters article cracks me up. Here’s what she says about the deal between TiVo and Yahoo! that has the DVR’s online programming service integrated with the portal’s TV section:

“I don’t see how it’s going to drive new incremental subscribers for TiVo. I don’t see how it’s going to drive incremental revenue for TiVo,” said analyst April Horace of Hoefer & Arnett, who added that the deal still appeared “incrementally positive” for the company.

Hm… How could it drive incremental subscribers and revenue for TiVo? Maybe because the company’s got the equivalent of a super-targeted sponsorship on one of the Web’s top portals. On every single episode page on Yahoo! TV, a “Record to my TiVo box” link will appear. Indeed, even though I’m not registered for the service, when I look at the info about this Seinfeld rerun, I’m told “You can record this program to your TiVo.” It involves a high-traffic portal. It offers utility and exposes the TiVo service (and its capabilities) to a TV-hungry audience. Seems like pretty smart marketing to me.