Whether you use TiVo, Freevo, MythTV or any other of the many suites out there that allow you to record TV on demand or on a schedule, one of the most popular reasons for doing so is the ability to skip commercials. This has angered many in the advertisement industry, who claim that the ability to skip commercials is "destroying" TV advertising. Some are even trying to push legislation that would force people to watch commercials. In order to substantiate or dispute these claims, TiVo is doing some research by doing random samplings from their customers. They'll be looking for how often people jump commercials and what types of commercials they choose to watch. They'll start with a random sampling of 20,000 people:
TiVo plans to provide a report for almost every national ad that it tracks. Data will include the number of people who saw the spot and when it was viewed. It also will offer measurements by program genre, the time of day the ad ran, network, day of week and an the ad's position in the commercial block.
Big-business media buffs probably wouldn't be satisfied with having to change their tactics, and likely will instead continue to try and "force" people to watch commercials. I doubt anyone would be happy with that, however.