Google and TiVo partner to analyze viewer data, sell ads, get filthy rich
By Nilay Patel 
posted November 24th 2009 7:01PM
posted November 24th 2009 7:01PM
We're actually sort of surprised that this hasn't happened earlier, but TiVo and Google announced a data-sharing partnership today that'll give the Google TV team access to TiVo's second-by-second viewing data -- anonymized, of course. That means advertisers who buy their TV ads through Google will only have to pay for the ads that customers actually watch -- a system the networks obviously aren't so keen on, but which makes total sense given Google's pay-per-impression online advertising model. Google's already processing a billion remote clicks a day as part of a similar deal it's had with Dish Network since April, so the new TiVo data should just help Mountain View inch its claws even deeper into our everyday lives. Happy future.
This comment has been down-ranked into oblivion.
Starts looking for Mods for my TiVo to Block outgoing info.
@PGPProtector Honestly, it's a waste of your time to bother thinking about this. The data is anonymized (as described in the post). The servers that collect the data has no way of correlating it to your own account, and TiVo has been upfront with this for some time.
@PGPProtector
You can opt out. Probably easier than blocking.
I'm not sure what the big deal is though. They won't know that it's you who's watching Desperate Housewives... :)
John
@PGPProtector Plus don't you want to support the shows you watch, isn't it a good thing if ABC doesn't cancel whatever show because of the viewer data they get from this?
yay capitalism
well im glad people are clicking on ads, cuz i sure as hell never do.
Can I just implant a Google chip in my brain and be done with all this?
Hey I don't mind ads. I mean the content doesn't pay for itself. At least now they can shove ads in my face about things I am actually interested in. I don't need no damn tampons.
@Eternity Unless, of course, you are watching a show that mostly women that need tampons are watching...
You could be watching anything and they will still throw in one of those commercials.
@Eternity
This is so true
TiGle? GooVo?
I have the right to doubt, Am I using it?...
So this means Tivo will no longer have a monthly fee, right?
It's amazing to me how so many people who post on technology blogs expect companies to exist without making any money. I'm one of the most anti-corporate, anti-big business, pro-privacy people you'll ever meet; but even I think it's reasonable for a company to make money and pay their employees.
As a TiVo owner who follows news on them, I know that if they didn't get revenue outside of the equipment & subscription income they wouldn't be around or would have to charge a lot more. They're insertion of "ads" is far less intrusive than those found on newspaper pages and most websites. Using my TiVo I watch far fewer ads becaue I can fast-forward past them (I'm always out of the loop when co-workers & friends talk about the latest funny/cool TV commercials).
Doesn't anyone else remember the legal actions taken against TiVo by the network and cable providers because it was so easy to skip their commercials? They're the reason TiVo had to change the 30-second skip button (which can be re-activated with a special code). They're why TiVo no longer advertises skipping commercials. Those companies wanted TiVo to make it so users couldn't skip commercials.
By the way, no where in this article does it say TiVo users are going to be seeing more ads or commercials. It's about how Google TV works - a service that allows businesses to buy commercial time through Google instead of the traditional routes. Why don't you read the article's actual content and do some research before jumping to conclusions & slamming the people at TiVo?
One day...in the not-too-distant future... Google will change its name to WeSaySo.
I'm against targeted ads... because according to them, I'm a plus sized woman. I keep getting lane bryant coupons/catalogs/"special sales"... which is all fine and all, but i'm a dude. and no, i'm not a cross dresser.
So thanks to tivo, google will monitor your tv viewing habits. Thanks to the purchase of admob, google is monitoring your mobile app usage. Thanks to Chrome google is gonna store all of your files in their cloud. And then theres google voice, and that search engine they have too.
Am I being paranoid or is this getting scary?
@Edobe
Don't forget Google Power that will monitor your electrical usage and Google Analytics that can monitor your browsing habits with cookies.
Cool, maybe you can spend less time making my TiVo track my every movement and spend more time making it not take 10 minutes to update my Season Passes and have an interface not from the late 1990's? Just an idea.
Hmmm i thought i pay Tivo money every month to be able to keep adds out of my face, and fast forward tv away from ads? Now they are going to throw more ads into my face? Looks like it time for me to get raid of tivo and do my own tivo/watching tv/fast forwarding tv on my windows 7 machine..
This is disgusting. Let's see I paid $200 for an HD Box, $130 a year for the service, the crappy interface is still cluttered with useless ads when I watch tv, try and search for shows. It's already RIDICULOUS. Now we're going to have to give up more of our privacy to Google and PAY for this privlidge? What a joke, if Cable DVRs weren't so shitty and unreliable I'd move back in a heartbeat.
I haven't seen ads on any websites in years (when I started using the content blocker in Opera).
I still think the winning formula for broadcast television is to have tiny ads pop up in the bottom right corner of the screen WHILE the show is playing. If you are interested in learning more, you can click a button on the remote to see the full ad... This was the one thing I really liked about Joost.
This will also be a way for networks to stop dropping good shows just because they suffer from being DVRed.
One of the biggest selling points of a Tivo was the ability to avoid ads. It's interesting they're doing all this work to have Tivo-specific ads. Tivo is beginning to walk a fine line. If it becomes too obtrusive, it's goodbye Tivo.
F**** Google in their f***ing a**es. Sick of them.