The increase in size of the Power Watch ratings panel promises advertisers more detail on who is seeing their ads and what TV channels and shows their target audience watches, says audience research and measurement vice president Todd Juenger (pictured).

“Instead of just measuring the viewing habits of, say, households containing women with kids who eat cereal, the larger sample size enables a crisper target segment,” says Juenger. “We will be able to see what’s on the TV in households containing women with children who eat cereal brand X, have an income of Y dollars and identify themselves as health food-conscious parents, which programmes they prefer, and which commercials they watch versus which ones they tend to fast-forward through.”

TV can track what its customers are watching via the clickstream data that flows between Tivo’s digital video recorders installed within customers’ homes and the company’s servers. Its Stop Watch panel reports on 300,000 homes entirely anonymously, but Power Watch was introduced as an opt-in variant that would allow Tivo to also collect data on household demographic composition with the permission of customers.

Once it hits 100,000 homes, the Power Watch panel will be nearly three times its current size of 35,000. This will deliver a boost to the company’s joint research service with web measurement firm Quantcast, which explores the correlation between TV viewing and online activity.

Quantcast marketing chief Adam Gerber said: “Tripling the Power Watch panel dramatically increases our national footprint and joint ability to help marketers understand the relationship between TV and online advertising and the impact to online conversion for specific product or brand customer segments.”