• Ad Age, Thursday, December 1, 2005 10:45 AM

TiVo recently announced the launch of a feature permitting users to view ads on demand. But what will prompt users to actually seek out TV advertising? What should the interface look like? What kind of incentives can be deployed? These questions are being addressed by a team of agency experts partnering with TiVo to develop the service. "The new product is important in helping us figure out the future," said Larry Spiegel of the Richards Group, a Dallas-based agency. Starcom USA's 16 account directors are meeting with TiVo researchers to assess advertiser's concerns. Said Tracy Scheppach, Starcom's TV-video innovations director: "My hypothesis is that consumers don't hate advertising, they hate irrelevant disruption. What I like about [the TiVo plan] is that we're working to ensure that advertisers' needs are being met." The pricing model of TiVo's ad-search service has yet to be determined. Like almost everything else about this novel venture, it will need to be tested and refined along the way. "The biggest part of our challenge is going to be adjusting to a new environment," said Paul Woidke, vice president of technology at Comcast Spotlight. "How are we going to teach people that now the things they've searched for are not an interruption in their lives?"

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