For television viewers who can't wait to buy a product they just saw advertised, DVR maker TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) and electronic payments provider PayPal are making it possible for those impulse buys to take place faster.
The companies announced that TiVo will integrate PayPal features into the TiVo user interface by the start of the fall 2012 television season.
Using their PayPal account, viewers can purchase products featured in 30-second spots and interactive advertisements.
The interactive ads, according to Tara Maitra, SVP and general manager of Content and Media Sales at TiVo, will be unobtrusive and appear "on the viewer's terms. By teaming with PayPal consumers will be able to instantly purchase products with just a few clicks of the remote after an easy, one-time account setup."
This isn't the first time a provider has tried to take interactive advertising to a higher level. Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), last year, rolled out RFI (request for information) technology that allows subscribers to find out more about a product advertised through its advanced advertising platform.
Similar technology can be found in advanced ads on Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) FiOS system. However, a Canoe-funded study in 2011 said that interaction rates on Cablevision's system were just 1 percent. (Canoe jumped out of the interactive advertising waters in February of this year.)
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) also looked ready to jump into the interactive advertising space in December, when it said it was selling ads on major TV networks that Xbox 360 users could interact with using voice commands and hand gestures.
Teaming up with TiVo will help us connect merchants and consumers via the TV set in the fastest and safest way possible," Scott Dunlap, VP of Emerging Opportunities and New Ventures at PayPal, said in a news release. "We are excited about the prospect of delivering a more complete and seamless couch commerce experience."
For more:
- see the release
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