TiVo launched an advertising program to insert ads after TV programs have played on its digital-video recorders "when there is nothing left to fast-forward through," the company said in an announcement Tuesday.
The Program Placement service will let advertisers buy ads against specific shows, programming genres or TV series. A button to run the post-program ads -- which can be up to two minutes in length -- will pop up on a TiVo menu overlay after a program has completed.
TiVo said the first companies to buy ads on the service are Burger King, General Motors, MasterCard Worldwide, The Weather Channel and Court TV. TiVo worked with advertising agencies GroupM's MindShare, Media Storm and GSD&M on the initial placement deals.
TiVo's Program Placement is likely to be unpopular with broadcasters and cable networks, which have long complained that the DVR service allows consumers to skip ads they've sold against their own programming. TiVo's new ad-placement service cuts out programmers altogether.
TiVo, meanwhile, is positioning the service as a way for marketers to combat the tendency of DVR viewers to skip through ads sold within TV programs. DVR owners skip an estimated 70% of traditional TV spots.
"TiVo now can help advertisers effectively engage a target demographic audience while substantially countering the impact of fast-forwarding commercials," CEO Tom Rogers said in a prepared statement.
However, TiVo can't guarantee that viewers won’t simply stop viewing the post-program ads it sells as part of Program Placement.
TiVo's other advertising programs include sponsorships and interactive tags inserted into marketers' traditional TV ad spots that let DVR users access additional marketing content.
