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We had reported last week that TiVo is eyeing YouTube to put its videos on TV and Amazon planning to start online TV shows and videos; the demand was there with TiVo looking for a rescuer to help it lift itself from the pit it was falling in. New York Times reports of the TiVo/Amazon team.

TiVo plans at turning the remote control into a tool that lets you purchase products that are being advertised on commercials and talk shows. This feature will be introduced in the present partnership with Amazon. The owners of TiVo recorders will see links to buy various products that range from CDs to books that are being promoted by guests on different talk shows; like ‘The Oprah Winfrey show’ and the Daily Show.

The idea might have sounded pretty disruptive in the early years but at present that’s one thing set to work out success with consumers. As CEO TiVo, S. Rogers remarked:

Our goal now is to work with the media industry to come up with ways to resist the downward pressure of less advertising viewing and create a way for advertising on TV to become more effective, more engaging and closer to the sale.

The new feature makes sure that it’s not just one experience the user has; which is to watch a program they most like but also enables them to purchase an advertised item. So does that take the consumer away and make him miss rest of the show? No, TiVo automatically records the remainder of the program so it can be viewed later. The purchase they have made is saved in their Amazon account and can be transacted any given time.

However one thing might be intriguing here and that is the limited user base of TiVo; with only four million users. Here the most vital aim should be to boos the user-base otherwise these not much to add in terms of market value as Timothy Hanlon, SVP Denuo adds:

But TiVo is only in around four million plus homes. From a national advertising perspective, if it doesn’t get beyond that base it remains nothing more than a curiosity.

This has been kept in mind and partnerships with Comcast and Cox have been for the purpose of putting up user-friendly software in their stop-boxes. Comcast has been quick and has introduced its service in Boston while Cox still tests it.

There definitely are problems that will be encountered but there have been efforts to accelerate the publicity about the new advertising model. This is entirely based on the popularity of the DVR model that has made it a possibility to skip nagging commercials. As Rogers adds:

It is critical that there be a form of advertising and a transactional solution that underpins the DVR, or the economics of television are going to be substantially undermined.