So I'm watching a show (the V remake, at least all the classic SF TV remakes are good so far) on my TiVo, when I see a flicker of an ad as I skip to the next block of actual program. It mentioned a medical condition a member of my family has, so I went back and had a look. The ad starts playing and a few seconds into it a TiVo popup says I can press "thumbs up" to get more information. I did and I hit ok to a couple of screens about an actual interest in the the specific drug in the ad and apparently they'll be sending me more information (your TiVo account has an email address associated with it). Naturally what I was watching (the ad in this case) picked up where I left off when I was done with the info screens.

Not coincidentally I had been presented with the news of a new privacy update when I turned my TV on. Apparently at TiVo Inc. they're excited to provide new features to their customers. They seem a little more somber when they explain that they sometimes have to access information about how the device is used. I'm guessing "that I'm watching this ad right now" is what they're mainly talking about. But... I get "more information" about a medicine my family needs. And yes, I am cynical enough to think that the ad agencies with pharmaceutical industry accounts are pushing this into reality first, to help validate the concept (it's about medicine so it's ok) so they can do this for the rest of their clients. It's a simple process and I got right back to my show, with a detour through my email client to write this.

In one fell swoop, TiVo has both monetized DVR viewers, gathered priceless demographic information, and made a real advance in interactive television. What's really amazing about this is that TiVo neither produces nor distributes content, and yet they're getting advertising dollars. It's not the Internet (although there must be a packet of some type involved somewhere in the process) and it's not advertising in the way Comcast understands the term. It's really a click-through model and I'd be keenly interested to know how TiVo's rates compare to, say Google Ad Sense. What they definitely have, is eyeballs and a management team that knows how to sell them in new ways.

The ad also shows one of the realities of advertising in the DVR age. Car commercials, spots for medicines, financial products and vacation services have long ended with a static image of the numbers or product under discussion. Lacking the 30-second skip button of the early days, DVR users fast forward through commercials and an ad has to be visible and recognizable even to, or especially to someone going past it at triple time. I wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't.

I interacted with an ad on TV and I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's definitely the future, I'm sure about that. On the one hand there's a ton of possibilities to be done with that, on the other it's the advertisers turning up the volume another notch to try and get my attention. On the other, I can pull up information about stuff in my shows. I watch a lot of shows with complicated backstories, so being able to pull up character bios and story notes in the middle of a show interests me. Advertisers have a great way to connect with interested viewers. Things are changing and that's supposed to make you feel a little uneasy. Get used to it.

Now I need to get back to my program. And first, the rest of the ad.