Wall Street Journal says: For the most part, the marketers won’t run traditional 30-second TV commercials. Instead, they will offer longer ads that attempt to be more informative than typical commercials. Kraft, for instance, will offer 20 different cooking videos that will show such things as how to grill its Tombstone pizza, potato-salad basics, or how to create a cantaloupe-and-Jell-O dessert. General Motors, likewise, will offer detailed video presentations about its vehicles. Ford is trying something more entertaining: one-minute takes of magicians Penn & Teller performing various tricks on a golf course, with a Ford vehicle shown nearby. TiVo users will be able to search for ads in several categories, including finance, lifestyles and travel and leisure. LendingTree’s ad, in the finance category, features personal-finance expert Suze Orman giving step-by-step overviews of different types of loans.
TiVo says: TiVo Inc. the creator and leader in advertising solutions and television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today launched its new advertising search product named ‘TiVo Product Watch’ which offers advertisers an innovative new way to reach TiVo subscribers who are actively looking for products (“In Market”) with advertising content and information. At launch, TiVo Product Watch will deliver targeted, relevant advertising content, from more than 70 advertisers and 100 leading brands, from up to five different product categories including Automotive, Entertainment, Financial, Lifestyles, and Travel and Leisure.
TiVo subscribers will be able to create searches and select advertising content, ranging from one minute to 60 minutes, from any of the five different product categories of interest and have it delivered directly to their Now Playing section of the TiVo service. TiVo Product Watch will also offer subscribers the ability to create a search based on their favorite brands. TiVo viewers will be able to subscribe to a brand and opt-in to receive video content directly from that company on an ongoing basis.
“Bringing to market the innovative TiVo Product Watch solution is another powerful example of TiVo’s ability to lead the industry and distinguish the TiVo service from generic DVRs in the marketplace,” said Tom Rogers, President and CEO of TiVo. “TiVo Product Watch will, for the first time, enable TV viewers to get commercial information about a product they are interested, when they want it, rather than through traditional TV advertising, where a viewer has no control of what ad comes on when they are watching a program. TiVo is committed to creating advertising products that deliver real, relevant results for our advertising partners while at the same time enhancing the TV experience for subscribers.”