Google will license and integrate TiVo television viewing data into its audience measurement system for advertisements sold through the Google TV Ads platform. Google TV Ads is a digital system for buying TV advertising using the familiar AdWords interface. Launched in 2007, Google TV Ads allows advertisers to reach up to 96 million households. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Google TV Ads is focused on enabling advertisers to target and measure television advertising more effectively," said Mike Steib, Google's director of emerging platforms. "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's Relevancy

Google's deal with TiVo will let Google TV Ads draw on anonymous, second-by-second DVR viewing data from TiVo's subscribers. Google expects the deal to improve the measurement and accountability of ad impressions for inventory sold using the Google TV Ads auction-based system.

Google TV Ads has served more than 100 billion TV ad impressions. Tapping into TiVo's audience base gives Google a broad reach into living rooms across the country. The TiVo sample covers all television-signal sources, including digital cable, analog cable, satellite, telecom and over-the-air television, in live and time-shifted viewing.

Todd Juenger, vice president and general manager of TiVo Audience Research & Measurement, said working with Google represents a shared approach to developing products and services to help the media industry better understand the effectiveness of ad campaigns in an evolving TV landscape.

"Among the many innovative aspects of Google TV Ads, a critical role is in its ability to measure specific commercial ratings, not simply averages, which is a key attribute of the TiVo data," Juenger said. "By using TiVo's massive samples and second-by-second granularity in its currency measurement, Google TV Ads can now provide an order of magnitude of improved accountability for advertisers."

Moving Toward Internet TV

Google's deal with TiVo puts a crack in the armor of television networks, both cable and broadcast, said Phil Leigh, a senior analyst at Inside Digital Media.

In the past, he explained, broadcasters have relied on advertisers paying to sponsor specific programs without knowing whether their ads are ever seen. By contrast, Google TV Ads shines a light on whether the ads were watched.

"I think this will ultimately lead to all of the video going to the Internet," Leigh said. "Google is shoehorning the Internet capability into the television structure and offering much more flexibility and accountability. Why shoehorn it in when you can do this more effectively over the Internet to begin with?"