TiVo Viewers Can Buy Products from Amazon.com

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Tue Jul 22, 12:40 PM ET

TiVo and Amazon expanded their digital partnership Monday. The pioneers in digital video recorders and online retail have teamed up to give TiVo subscribers the ability to purchase products from Amazon.com on TV sets, using the TiVo remote control.

With the new Product Purchase feature, television advertisers will be able to market products sold through Amazon.com on any broadcast or cable network, or via any of TiVo's extensive interactive advertising features, the companies said.

TiVo launched the new service Monday by featuring products related to several high-profile shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Colbert Report, and Burn Notice.

Couch Potato Shopping

Evan Young, director of broadband services for TiVo, said Product Purchase will add a new dimension to TV viewing. The partnership, he explained, lets viewers buy products related to their favorite TV shows or that they've seen in in TV ads without leaving their seats.

For example, if a guest on the Daily Show or Oprah promotes a new book, CD or DVD, viewers could purchase it on Amazon.com without missing a second of TV, whether the viewer is watching the show live or recorded. Interactive tags enhance traditional commercials and make them actionable, allowing consumers to get additional information and make purchases while automatically pausing a program.

"The viewer with an impulse can buy right away and no longer needs to remember to do so the next time they are at their PC," Young said. "Television advertisers and consumer-products companies are no longer limited to the traditional linear shopping channels that require live viewing for product merchandising and fulfillment -- if their product is seen or advertised on any TV show or network, and sold by Amazon.com, it can be merchandised to viewers through TiVo."

As Seen on TiVo

Consumers will also be able to use TiVo's Universal Swivel Search to explore and buy products associated with their favorite shows, movies, actors and directors. When viewers select a product, they will have the option to complete the purchase or add it to their Amazon.com shopping cart for later checkout.

Scott Merlino, senior manager of business development at Amazon.com, called the initiative an opportunity for viewers to break free of traditional shopping channel limitations and for advertisers to reach a specific, targeted audience regardless of which network or show they are watching.

"Now a record label can merchandise and sell a new artist's CD on a show where the music is featured, or a publisher can merchandise an author's book during a talk show when the author appears as a guest -- the marketing possibilities are endless," Merlino said. "Teaming up with TiVo is a great way to engage consumers during a TV program with a direct connection to the product being sold."

Exploring the Possibilities

The concept of interactive TV advertising has been discussed for many years. TiVo and Amazon may have the right market timing if the user experience and reach are up to par, said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence.

"From a user-experience perspective, since TiVo allows programming to be paused and stopped, that would permit this type of purchasing behavior. If it distracted from the programming, if it interrupted or disrupted the broadcast, it would be bad, but this is hypothetically a good user experience," Sterling said.

While home shopping television networks have been around for years, he said, this is a clear move toward bringing more Internet capabilities to the TV. Sterling called it an interesting experiment for Amazon to expand its brand and reach, but the concept is not without challenges.

"There is a lot of talk about Internet ad targeting coming to the television," Sterling said. "But consumers will have to be educated about this opportunity and possibility."