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Google TV Ads Nabs Second-by-Second Data with TiVo Deal

Google has signed a deal to subscribe to TiVo’s user data for its Google TV Ads platform, which will give media buyers access to second-by-second data of how subscribers to the digital video recorder service are watching television - including whether they are viewing, or fast-forwarding through, ads.

Google TV Ads has deals to sell local advertising on 96 channels reaching DISH Network subscribers, as well as national TV ads on cable nets Ovation, Hallmark, CBS College Sports, Bloomberg TV, Game Show Network, and six from NBC (CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, SyFy, Chiller, and Sleuth).

To date, Google TV Ads offers buyers and their clients data from the digital set-top boxes of DISH subscribers, plus some small digital cable TV systems that have partnered with Google, MediaPost writes. Google TV Ads also recently licensed demographic and geo-demographic data from Nielsen.

The TiVo deal adds second-by-second DVR viewing data to Google TV Ads’ stable of available metrics.

Google’s TV platform is thought to be most popular with direct response and “long-tail” advertisers, while bigger advertisers and agencies have used Google TV Ads to gain insights about TV audiences. Google executives say about 3 in 10 advertisers who purchase TV ads through Google have never advertised on TV before.

Still, the platform has yet to reach any critical mass, due mostly to the fact that it lacks a large amount of quality inventory. Deals such as this one may give Google TV Ads leverage with bigger TV networks, which Google hopes will make their inventory available for sale on the platform.

Advertisers want TV to become more accountable for the audiences it delivers. Nielsen, currently the ratings king, focuses on how many people watch a given show, but Google is attempting to provide details on whether people are viewing the ads - and who those people are. Via the deal with DISH Network, Google process more than a billion channel clicks each day to make determinations on what ads are seen, according to the Los Angeles Times.

But Nielsen is quick to point out what it sees as problems with Google’s system. It is impossible to know when people are in front of their TVs when the set-top devices are on. Nielsen estimates that 10% of digital set-top boxes are never turned off, while 30% are on for 24 hours on any given day.