• by Lynn Russo , January 26, 2006

Imagine that you and your spouse are watching the same TV show, but in different rooms. An auto commercial comes on, but he sees a two-ton truck while you see an SUV. It's happening, thanks to Invidi Technologies Corp. and Visible World, who are working with cable and satellite providers and advertisers to offer targeted TV ads.

Invidi's system targets based on gender, age, income, ethnicity, and geography, and soon will target by advertisers' keyword criteria. "They'll be able to say, 'I want to buy women ages 18 to 49 with household incomes of over $75,000, and associate my advertising with the words 'Jennifer Lopez,' or with words like 'NFL,' 'Nascar,' or 'NBA.'" No personally identifiable information is used.

Visible World's technology targets by demographics, program content, product inventory, even the weather. Through Comcast Cable, Fallon deployed the technology to launch Ted Airlines, a lower-cost subsidiary of United Airlines, to local Chicago suburbs.

"In Naperville, the ad said, 'Ted says hello to Naperville.' In Aurora, it said, 'Ted says hello to Aurora,' " says account director Kara Peterson.