TiVo Snaps Up Ad Research Firm TRA

TiVo, the DVR player that first united catch-up TV and the Web in holy matrimony, has just purchased ad research firm TRA for about $20 million.

TRA enables advertisers and networks to measure the effectiveness of their ads on TV, enabling ad folk to gain insight on, say, which networks are best for selling cookies versus cars.

“We believe television is at an inflection point,” said TiVo President Tom Rogers to the New York Times. “In the digital realm you measure click by click and get increasingly granular information. This kind of metric has not developed well in the television space before now,” he added.

Not for want of trying. Companies like Bluefin, for example, are attempting to improve real-time TV analytics by measuring things like social activity during a show, as well as during given ads.

YouTube Launching 13 French Networks: ‘Producers’ Include Agencies, Websites

It’s all happening. This October, YouTube is launching 13 themed networks for France, which will appear both on the web and on connected TVs.

An RFP was released for programmes to populate the networks, a process that sticks out especially because it wasn’t only major production firms that could enter; agencies and websites were also eligible. Brands that made the cut include production firm Endemol, agency Capa, website Auféminin.com (for women) alongside sister site Marmiton (for cooking); and “new generation” producer “Troisième Oeil” (“Third Eye”). Jean Dujardin, who made a big Stateside splash this year, has also been asked get involved in a comedy project.

The budget for partnering producers may range from 500,000€ to 1,000,000€ for the development of 20 hours of programming. The networks will be closely themed around family, health, cuisine or culture, and — crazier still — the annual programming budget is roughly the equivalent of French primetime network TF1.

Ad profits above and beyond a promised minimum will be split between content creators and YouTube, although pending contracts suggest that producer margins will be squeezed. Producers will also be forbidden from airing their programmes on other media for the first year.

Similar deals are currently being made for YouTube network launches in Germany and the UK.

YouView Now Live in the UK!

YouView, the Messianic connected TV service we told you about a few days ago, is now online and toting a tall slogan: “EXTRAORDINARY TV FOR EVERYONE.” The subscription-free magic box went live with 70 digital channels on board and 7-day catch-up TV service for BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD, and Demand 5. Its ambition is about as modest as the slogan: to change the viewing habits of the United Kingdom.

Boxes can be had at retailers or via broadband providers, according to the site, but the truth is they sound easier to get than they currently are. This year a total of three YouView boxes will be available. The only one currently available is a Humax box for £299 — a price analysts say may give people pause before adoption.

CEO Richard Halton, though, is unfazed by this or any other dire news, including critics’ observations that the launch is about two years past its first promised due date. “It is only us that brings together the content and makes it easy to discover,” he said simply.

BT and TalkTalk boxes will be distributed this fall. Developers seeking to produce apps, or content providers wishing to take advantage of YouView’s open-door policy, would be wise to wait and see what adoption actually looks like before making the investment of blood, sweat and tears.

TV: Have we reached the Tipping Point?

Two UK studies suggest it’s finally happened. “It” being the shift from scheduled to on-demand TV. The first, by YouGov, says 1 in 4 Brits watch more VOD than live TV; that proportion rises to 41% of 18-24 year olds. Drilling down (sorry, I hate that expression) to smart (connected) TV owners, the figures rise to over a third who confess to majoritarily on-demand viewing; and 53% of smart TV-owning 18-24 year olds. Finally, over half of smart TV owners with young kids watch more VOD than scheduled programming.

Secondly, A Nielsen report cited by PSFK says 84% of respondents now watch video content at home on their computers, versus 83% on their TVs. In 2010, for comparison, it was 86% for pooters & 90% for TVs.

So, brave new world? Not right away, judging by the latest Samsung smart TV with pseudo-Kinect I’ve just tried (photo): the entire experience, from slow, staggered app downloads to motion detection that doesn’t work, is unpleasant to say the least. Roll on the rumoured Apple TV?

You’ve probably already caught wind of it, but if not, here’s the demo video for Yahoo!’s Connected TV offering. In simple terms, the technology enables you to “layer” widgets of your choice onto your TV screen, enabling broad customisation of the viewing experience while minimising dependency on the content company that in some ways is all thumbs. (Consider the misplaced Yahoo! yodel at the end of this video.)

Whether Yahoo!’s punting yours or not, Connected TV is the future … and it’s rapidly being commoditised. You’ll have plenty of options (Apple TV? Google? Netflix? Motorola?); it’ll be awhile yet before user behaviour stabilises enough to separate winners from losers. (Consider how long it took for Twitter to finally take Tweetdeck as its desktop-based bride.)