Will advertisers go for "TiVo-proof" ads?

With more consumers choosing to DVR favorite programs to watch as they have time or switching to online versions of their favorite shows sans all of those pesky commercial breaks, many analysts have said that traditional television advertising is going down the tubes. Marketers worried about the ROI of television ad campaigns should take note of a new kind of ad, said to be "TiVo-proof".

by Kristina Knight

According to the popular DVR hub, the new ad offerings are intriguing enough to have viewers watching commercials rather that skipping over them to get to the next show segment.

News of the campaign comes as new research points out that DVRs will become mainstream sometime later this year or in 2008. According to an eMarketer report, DVR adoption was slow out of the gate but with the onset of set-top boxes, more consumers are adopting the technology.

Ben Macklin, senior analyst at eMarketer said, "The point at which a technology moves into the mainstream has always been 30%. Within the largest TV markets in the country this point will be reached in 2007/2008."

The ability to skip lengthy commercial breaks has long been on the minds of television viewers. As VCRs were replaced by recordable DVDs and now DVRs, marketers have worried that the traditional commercial TV model would be phased out. According to Nielsen Media Research, that worry is unfounded as about 25% of DVR watchers also watch commercial breaks.