Searching for Ads of Interest

Everyone agrees that there are way too many ads. But when you are in the market for something, ads can be very useful. Now Tivo, the company that helped viewers skip commercials will soon help viewers find advertisements of interest. I think this is a promising development for better marketing to women and boomers.

TiVo Users Soon Can Search for Ads From the Wall St Journal (subscription only)

TiVo Inc. is partnering with several big ad firms to offer its users a system that lets them search for commercials centered around a specific topic. Expected to launch next spring, the feature comes as Madison Avenue is contemplating a number of ways to reach consumers who use technology to avoid traditional advertising.
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People who watch traditional television are forced to view commercials in random fashion, regardless of what they may be interested in buying, says Tom Rogers, TiVo's president and chief executive. "We're flipping the dynamic," he says, allowing TiVo subscribers to search for ads that match their interests.
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. TiVo is in discussions with advertising agencies about the best way to price such advertising, but one option is to let advertisers bid on keywords as they do when buying ads on Internet search engines.
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Indeed, ad executives suggest advertisements will have to evolve in two ways. They will either need to generate enough buzz so that consumers are eager to find out more about them. Or they will need to become less filled with hype and offer more bare-bones information, much like Internet paid-search ads