TiVo's ability to skip over ads, or entire ad breaks, will be disabled in its New Zealand iteration, TVNZ confirms. Advertisers could also get some TiVo-specific frills, most graphically illustrated by the Janet Jackson Superbowl "wardrobe malfunction" incident.

TiVo boxes will have two components: the ability to receive and record broadcast TV (via the Freeview HD digital terrestrial service) and the ability to serve up on-demand films and TV programmes via a broadband connection.

With recorded broadcast TV, the ability to skip through ad breaks in 30-second jumps (used by some in the US) will be disabled, though viewers will still be able to fast forward at up to 30x - too fast for anyone bar dogs and teenagers to discern any advertising image, however long it stays onscreen.

With on-demand broadband content, fast forwarding will be completely disabled, with DRM technology giving viewers no choice but to watch ads - although TVNZ pledges there will be few of them.

While souped-up fast forward is common to all digital recorders, including MySky, TiVo in the US has recently trialed a system that sees static, text-style ads overlaid on a menu screen as a viewer fast forwards.

Interactive ad options
The Media Counsel's Michael Carney points out in a newsletter to clients today, "Advertisers can engage with consumers through interactive ads and TiVo ad tools specific to the service, and can sponsor or create content on TiVo. Options include a 'Thumbs Up' button, and the ability to link to longer-form advertorials. Geo-targetting is also possible.

Which ads are toast?
TiVo can also supply user data on which ads are fast-forwarded through, and which aren't (providing subscribers agree to share that information), though it's not yet clear how much information TVNZ will supply to advertisers. "Can our egos withstand the stress of learning which ads are watched and which are toast?" asks Mr Carney.

TiVo's ability to track it's viewers' behaviour - thanks to data automatically collected by each Tivo box then relayed to broadcasters - was famously illustrated when it was able to tell press exactly how many people had replayed Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Superbowl.

TiVo can tell, down to the second, which content - or advertisement - is fast-forwarded.

Athough the Janet Jackson incident sparked a lot of free publicity for TiVo, as intended, it also alerted many users of the service to its monitoring capability for the first time. Since then, there has been more emphasis on voluntary tracking.

Tracking a wider audience
Another key benefit: TiVo's own PowerWatch Ratings Service can provide a broadcaster with data (again, if a subscriber agrees to participate) on how many people watch a recorded or time-shifted version of a programme, giving a truer picture of its total audience. Again, the data can be automatically collected on each set-top box.

In the US, Nielsen has also worked with TiVo to collect two lots of ratings: one of the "live" audience and another, released later, which also includes the "time-shifed" audience (those who recorded the program then watched it the next day or next week).