Tricking Tivo (TIVO) users into watching commercials

Television viewers are using Tivo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) to shirk their civic obligation to watch commercials, and now the industry is fighting back. By tying commercials into programs, the advertising firms are betting that they can get people to stop fast-forwarding through some commercials.

Guinness beer recently designed such a commercial for the Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters" show and, according to The Wall Street Journal, the results were impressive, the Tivo factor aside: "Viewers who saw the Guinness ad on "Mythbusters" remembered the name of the Guinness brand 41% more often than they did when they saw a traditional Guinness ad, according to a study by IAG Research."

It's surprising that advertisers needed the threat of Tivo to start doing this. Doesn't it make sense that viewers would be more interested in a commercial related to the show that they're watching? Commercials annoy most television viewers, but they could be a lot more fun if they were in some way related to the show -- and hey! Maybe we'd actually pay attention to them, instead of using them as a time for a trip to the fridge.

With Nielsen now tracking ratings for commercials, there will be increased pressure on these firms to put together ads that viewers actually watch and respond to.