TiVo Teams With NBA To Promote Finals

Sports league will use DVR firm’s interactive ads, measurement data

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/4/2009 6:52:30 PM

Digital video recorder supplier TiVo announced that it has struck a deal with the National Basketball Association to promote the NBA Finals which start Thursday night between the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic and will be broadcast by ABC.

TiVo, whose stock has surged this week after winning $103 million in damages in its long-running patent litigation against Dish Network, has promoted The Finals since Monday via interactive ad “showcases” within the TiVo service. Ads for The Finals are also appearing on TiVo’s “pause” and “delete” screens, as well as the “TiVo Central” section.

“The NBA has created a branded environment with video clips with highlights from other Finals and a link for one-click recording of all the Finals games,” explains Tara Maitra, TiVo’s GM and VP of content services and advertising sales, who notes that subscribers can enjoy the interactive content and then seamlessly return to the program they were watching.

TiVo is also supplying the NBA with reams of set-top data from its Stop||Watch ratings service for the 2008-09 NBA season. The audience measurement report will provide a second-by-second analysis of TiVo subscribers’ viewing habits and commercial ratings for every primetime NBA game.  

“We are impressed with the power and impact of TiVo’s interactive advertising solutions and audience research,” said NBA EVP of Marketing Partnerships Mark Tatum in a statement. “This is a great tool for us to further promote The Finals and show advertisers the advantages of live NBA programming to deliver commercial audiences in the world of DVR-based viewing.”