TiVo in Deal to Provide Second-by-Second Set-Top Box Data for Google TV Ads

As [itvt] was going to press Monday night, Google and TiVo announced a deal that will see Google incorporating anonymous second-by-second viewing data from standalone TiVo DVR's (i.e. not from TiVo DVR's offered through the company's partnerships with DirecTV and Comcast) into its audience measurement for advertising inventory it sells via its online auction service, Google TV Ads.

The deal gives Google access to data from an additional 1.6 million or so set-tops (note: TiVo is scheduled to release its latest standalone subscription figures with its Q3 earnings, Tuesday afternoon): an earlier deal with DISH Network gives it access to data from around 4 million boxes (note: it also draws on data from Nielsen and other sources). The company says that the addition of TiVo viewing data will "substantially enhance the measurement and accountability" of inventory sold through Google TV Ads. "Working with Google is an important milestone and represents a shared approach to developing innovative products and services to help the media industry better understand the effectiveness of ad campaigns in an evolving TV landscape," Todd Juenger, VP and general manager of TiVo Audience Research & Measurement, said in a prepared statement. Added Google's director of emerging platforms, Mike Steib: "Google TV Ads is focused on enabling advertisers to target and measure television advertising more effectively. This deal with TiVo will give advertisers access to even more anonymized viewership data, making Google's data set one of the best in the industry. Advertisers can use this data to understand which audiences and ads are most effective, which we think will ultimately lead to more relevant ads for viewers."

Google claims that around 100 billion ad impressions have been served to date via Google TV Ads, on such cable channels as CBS College Sports, CNBC, GSN, Hallmark Channel, MSNBC, Oxygen and Syfy.