TiVo has reached a deal with AT&T's (NYSE: T) AdWorks division to collect and share anonymous and aggregate AT&T U-verse and TiVo households viewing data. The deal also allows for TiVo to use ad inventory from AdWorks.
TiVo, which just won a $215 million patent battle with AT&T over its DVR, will meld the data from AT&T's 3.8 million U-verse subscribers--and their 9 million set-top-boxes--with data it already collects, to provide "better sampling" of viewer behavior, the companies said.
"Television has evolved into an on-demand, get it when you want it platform and in order to keep up with viewers, advertisers and brands need better data and better measuring tools," said Tara Maitra, senior vice president and general manager of content and media sales for TiVo. "We believe this deal will bring a host of benefits to all sides of the media ecosystem; at TiVo, we are looking forward to using this anonymous viewing data from AT&T AdWorks to help project a better sampling of U.S. television viewing habits."
Both companies took pains to point out that the data would be anonymous to protect subscriber privacy.
For more:
- see this release
- see this TVexchanger.com article
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