Want to buy that book mentioned on Leno? Hit pause and do it from your TiVo

tivoguy

TiVo and Amazon have joined forces again, and this time they plan to change the game. (I use that phrase ironically, as it’s wholly without meaning.) Imagine watching Conan and seeing him interview the author of a book you’re interested in reading. Right from an on-screen menu, TiVo users will now have the option of buying said book right from their TV via Amazon. It’s product placement run amok. Actually, as long as it’s unbotrussive—they don’t start throwing Pop Up Video bubbles in your face every two seconds—it shouldn’t be too bad. Maybe, dare I say, even useful.

The service only works on TiVo boxes and not your run-of-the-mill DVR, but TiVo is working with cable companies to get the software onto their own boxes.

That’s key, because as revolutionary as this sounds—buying products the moment they’re shown on TV—it’s nothing more than a novelty to advertisers since TiVo only has some four million subscribers.

Ah, remember when advertisers hated for its surreptitious little “commercial skip” feature?