From Masha Geller’s MediaPost:

TiVo said that a recent video Showcase promoting the blockbuster comedy “Austin Powers In Goldmember” received the highest viewership yet of any advertainment offering, with two-thirds of subscriber households viewing the showcase during the two-week campaign. Viewers of the Showcase spent an average of six minutes interacting with the promotional videos stored on the TiVo hard drive.

According to TiVo officials, the consumer response to the Austin Powers Showcase demonstrates that advertisers can be successful in “an environment where the viewer is in charge, if they deliver messages that are both relevant and entertaining.” The Goldmember Showcase was comprised of nine video elements, including the full-length trailer that was otherwise only seen in theatres, and a personalized message to TiVo subscribers from Austin Powers star and creator, Mike Myers.

And then this afternoon, as if to confirm user-driven ads are an Official Trend, I heard a snippet from a broadcast of the California Commonwealth Club (?) on NPR. It was someone saying how the downward trend in TV watching and the emergence of TiVo-style recorders and the Net will mean that we will have to be enticed to watch political advertising because it’s entertaining and interesting. And who should this enlightened person turn out to be? Dick “The Whore” Morris. (Sorry, I meant no offense to providers of outsourced sexual services.)

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