For advertisers, Tivo presents a double-edged sword. For decades, television ratings have come from Nielson which figures out what people are watching by either paying people to keep diaries of what they watch and when, or installing meters on some TVs. However, lack of reporting and small, non-random sample sizes make this system very unreliable. Enter Tivo, that not only records TV programs, but also compiles what programs are watched, recorded, re-watched, fast-forwarded through, and rewound for instant replay. And the Tivo box sends all this information back to Tivo on a daily basis (yup, read the fine print on the user agreement).

So now, the networks can get much more precise data about what people are watching. However, the other side of the blade is that now veiwers can fast-forward through all those wonderfully-revenue-generating ads. But at least the networks can know what commercials are being fast-forwarded through.

What is the result? Well, Hollywood is full of smart people looking to make money. The newest way is product placement. There once was a time when a TV production comapny could get props and sets for free or vastly reduced rate by leveraging the fact that millions of people would see it. For example, I can't tell you how many Cisco IP phones I have seen in TV and movies. I promise you that the Cisco IP phone is not the choice of someone looking for a set prop and trying to save money. Now that commercials are being marginalized, the idea of a company's products being a part of the show, and more than that, being repeated in reruns and DVDs. I was reading today about a company that specializes in matching up comapny looking for advertising and TV/movie scripts awaiting production.

It's funny. 50 years ago, TV shows were sponsored by a single company and the hosts of the show would often pitch the product during the show. Looks like we are moving back to that.