The firm already has access to information on what people are watching through a tie-up with the Dish satellite network, its principle partner in the TV Ads venture.

Google’s TV Ads platform lets advertisers bid to run their ads on certain inventory on the 125-channel Dish network, as well as on select NBC Universal cable channels, Bloomberg Television, the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movie Channel.

To date, Google has charged advertisers per-impression based on Dish set-top box data, but the Tivo deal is set to bring viewing information from more homes into the mix. Google also has deals with Nielsen that allow it to flesh out the raw viewing data with demographic profiles (see here and here).

For Tivo, the Google tie-up marks a further move into the audience research game. Todd Juenger (pictured), the firm’s general manager of audience research and measurement, described it as “an important milestone”.

Tivo has launched its own ratings services based on customers’ set-top box data, called Stop Watch and Power Watch, but the company has also partnered with research agencies such as Quantcast and TRA to fuse the viewing data it holds with information on web behaviour and shopping habits respectively.