TiVo has changed the way we watch television, cutting commercials out of the equation. Sometimes, however, we stop for an ad that grabs our attention, which means it’s doing something right.

Now, TiVo has found a way to keep track of that action.

The Top Commercial Rankings reports will utilize TiVo’s StopWatch service, which tracks consumer viewing behavior down to the second, and provide ratings for both live and time-shifted commercial viewing, compared with ratings for actual program viewing.

More interesting, however, is that it turns out we like to watch good ads, even when we have the power to skip them outright.

Many of the highest-rated commercials for live viewers were also the highest-rated among time-shifted viewers — all of whom had the opportunity to fast-forward through every commercial.

So, promotional content, done well, can catch an audience even if they understand the transaction. Testament to the value of strong content and good production value?