TiVo planning to deepen its consumer research and data activities

TiVo plans to bring the capabilities of consumer data specialist TRA, which it recently acquired, together with its existing StopWatch DVR ratings data portal to deliver deeper consumer data to service providers and advertisers, and will likely bring the combined product to Europe in the near future, according to Joshua Danovitz, vice-president and general manager, international.

“You will see us using data backhaul from the service providers to drive products and research in a wider sense,” Danovitz told DTVE. “TiVo can backhaul that data anonymously and put it in a product that advertisers can use to make [decisions].”

Danovitz said TiVo would update its existing StopWatch product, currently available only in the US, by meshing it together with TRA’s platform, which collates consumer data from reward card purchases and the like, enabling advertisers to correlate viewing and purchasing habits more accurately.

Speaking about TiVo’s service provider business more widely, Danovitz said that delivering connected home services would best be done by a combination of ‘home cloud’ and network-based delivery. TiVo has just launched TiVo Stream, a new US$130 (€100) box that can connect to the home network via the existing wireless router and stream or download content from the TiVo DVR to mobile devices in the home.