TiVo to introduce "Ad Search" feature

It is difficult to think of something more questionable than an "Ad Search" on a product that most people use precisely to avoid watching commercials. But the Wall Street Journal reports this is exactly what TiVo is preparing to offer its users.

TiVo users will be able to set up a profile of products on their television screens by clicking on categories such as automotive or travel or typing in keywords such as "BMW" or "cruises." On a regular basis, TiVo will then download relevant commercials to TiVo recorders over the Internet or, for those users who don't have broadband, send the video via traditional broadcast signals. The commercials will appear on-screen in a folder next to the list of television shows TiVo users record.

Advertisers, in turn, will be able to select the keywords and categories with which they wish to be associated for their ads.

The story quotes an ad executive as saying the very nature of television ads will have to change. They will either become more reductionist in nature, offering only the most relelvant information (a la Internet ads), or they will become extravagant enough to generate buzz and consumer curiosity. Especially under the keyword model, "buzz" and "curiosity" will mean, obviously, "skin."

In order to compete with "Victoria's Secret" as the number-one search term, everybody from Toyota to Betty Crocker to Doan's Pills will have to figure out how to work a little T&A into their ads.