TiVo Research might well be considered the Switzerland of TV viewing intelligence, offering a neutral view of linear viewing. “We don’t have a horse in the game so to speak,” says Mark Risis, Head of Strategy & Business Development, in an interview with Beet.TV. “We do not skew our results to favor our own media channel sales or to provide a competitor advantage to sellers of our media.”

With its “hyper focus” on the intelligence flowing from its own set-top boxes (augmented with set-top box information from roughly a half dozen cable operators) TiVo can connect with virtually any data set—including browser cookies and device ID’s.

Working in tandem with consumer insights firm RealityMine, TiVo Research will help inform NBCUniversal about viewership of—and engagement with—its Olympic content and commercials on linear TV and across all platforms on a single-source basis.

“As consumers are switching between the myriad of channels that the Olympics are going to be simultaneously broadcast on, we are able to really understand how that path exists,” says Risis. This includes “which moments keep them tuned into a particular channel, what gets them to leave a channel.”

Risis cites the company’s work with Viacom as an example of the value of understanding audience characteristics for planning and proof of performance. “Looking at the entire portfolio of Viacom properties, they can tell how frequent visitors to Burger King or McDonalds or another QSR restaurant can be reached in the most optimal fashion across the entire array of media vehicles that Viacom has,” Risis explains.

Once a campaign has been executed in this manner, TiVo and its data partners can tell the QSR operators how the campaigns on Viacom impacted consumer behavior. “That goes right back into the planning cycle so they can optimize the campaign for the next cycle,” Risis says.

This interview is part of a series on the future of TV analytics and measurement sponsored by TiVo Research. Please visit this page for additional segments.