Business week: Coming Soon: A Horror Show for TV Ads

TiVo has announced a service that will measure television commercial viewership with an accuracy level approaching that of the Internet. The new analytical tool can track when and where ads are watched. It can also determine when ads are skipped and which programs have the highest "skip rate". In essence, the viewership of a given television ad can now be tracked just like online creative is right now.

This has the networks and big agencies running scared. The entire business model is based on spending a fortune to create television commercials and charging a fortune to run them based on the "projected likelihood" they will be seen. What if you found out an ad you placed during 'The Practice' was only seen by 30% of the show's projected audience? As a media buyer, wouldn't you tell your television sales rep that you are now going to pay only 30% of the previous cost for that spot? You bet your ass you would. And you can bet your ass the television networks are not too happy about the information now being available.

TiVo was once thought to be a souped up VCR. It''s now on the way to becoming the next Nielsen and Arbitron.