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TiVo and Verizon Wireless have partnered to allow TiVo subscribers to schedule show recordings via mobile phones, reports MediaWeek. The service will be available to Verizon subscribers through the company’s “Get It Now” applications sometime this summer.  Presents a whole new set of challenges to advertisers.

Generally Google acts.  Others react.  So I find it intriguing to watch Google in reactive mode to rival Microsoft.

I discovered today that Google has added demographic targeting to AdWords in response to Microsoft U.S. beta launch last year of adCenter which received an A grade preview from Search Engine Lowdown (and is getting some good reviews from the pilot).  adCenter is reported to have fairly good demographic targeting abilities — with geo-targeting capability (allowing advertisers to focus efforts down to the local, city level); demographic targeting (by age and gender); time targeting (e.g., bidding a bit more during business hours); and bid matching (on exact, phrase and broad keyword matches). Two of the negatives: no content targeting, lack of Firefox compatibility.

Now, according to the AdWords help site, you can now “pick your preferences in up to three different demographic categories. The system will analyze your preferences and create a list of available Google Network sites that are popular with that audience.” Demographic site selection is currently available only for site-targeted accounts. Google is getting the data from comScore Media Metrix and is currently only available for targeting the U.S.

Hummm.   I guess we’ll have to watch the stats to see what happens.  According to Nielsen/NetRatings, as of December 05, Google controlled 48.8 percent of the search market, followed by Yahoo at 21.4 percent and MSN at 10.9 percent.  But I bet MSN is hoping adCenter will help it gain ground on Google and Yahoo.