How Does the DVR Affect TV Viewing and Advertisers - I Was Always Curious

Ever since I received my first DVR as a surprise gift from my husband, the way I view TV has never been the same. Thanks to the freedom the DVR offers I was able to watch more than one program in a competing time slot. Yeah, if I was really desperate and there were two good shows on at the same time I may have been inclined to record one of the programs on my VCR. But those things were so cumbersome and the quality was, well, not good.

VCR's. Wow. That feels like such a long long time ago. Yet the DVR only came into my life about 5 years ago. Now you can't give away a VCR at a garage sale. I remember my mom taping all her soap operas on the VHS tapes and using the same tape over and over and the snowy lousy value of the picture. It's so comedic when you think about it. And it's absolutely amazing how far we have come.

The DVR allows us to watch more but also watch less as we can skip the commercials, something I am truly grateful for. It is interesting, however, that while we are fast forwarding we must pay close attention so that we can hit the play button dead on so as not to move too far forward or not far enough. I'm proud to say I'm quite skilled at that and 9 times out of 10 I hit the play button square on. Go me! If I could turn my skills at the remote into money, I'd be rich. As it turns out I'm actually speed watching commercials as I can pretty much tell what products are being advertised. Even last night, while watching the Listener on NBC, I caught a glimpse of Conan in some weird outfit doing something strange. I actually stopped the fast forward and rewound to see what that was all about. It was a Bud Light commercial and a funny one to boot. (Kudos to the advertisers who actually captured my attention in my fast forward frenzy enough to make me do exactly what I did).

The DVR has probably challenged the advertising industry like they've never been challenged before. They used to have 30 seconds to capture our attention, now they have maybe 3 to 5 seconds, depending on how many times we hit that fast forward button (I usually hit it the max of 4x's to get the max speed). There are times, however, when I'm multi tasking and half watching a program I recorded that I do not actually fast forward and allow the commercials to play.

So, I always wondered what affect DVR has had on TV and it's advertisers. If you think about it there are some positives. Prior to the DVR we would most likely use the commercial time for bathroom breaks or to run to the kitchen for a snack, or even discuss the business of the day with our spouses or family. Now, we actually watch (speed watch) commercials as we fast forward through them. So in one sense the audience they may never have captured, they now have the attention of. I went in search of some articles on exactly that topic.

According to an article published in July of 2008 marketwatch.com the following quote touches upon what I mentioned above;

"If I look at what segment of the commercial audience was lost to time shifting, they ranged from 13% to 35%," Notarianni said of research he conducted on behalf of several clients. "But the interesting part is that, based on the same clients ... we found that the effectiveness of TV in that period climbed. That is, TV actually yielded more [sales] response."

Basically, it says exactly what I had observed about my own TV watching habits. They are actually gaining an audience for their commercials, as those most likely to fast forward are those that would have left the room or simply not payed any attention to them anyway. So, so far, DVR has not affected advertisers so much.

Nielsen does keep track of DVR viewing in three different ways; Live, Live +Same Day and Live + 7 Day. According to TVByTheNumbers.com most of the shows recorded that are watched the same day are Reality TV shows. Shows that air between 10pm - 11pm are most likely watched the next day.

But watching your favorite shows via DVR may not exactly save the show. The reason is that advertising is sold based on same day +3 numbers (SD and +3 are usually very similar results). Anything beyond the 3 days is deemed to have little to no advertising value. In some cases, however, DVR viewing may actually help a show stay on the air. Dollhouse, which was surprisingly renewed by FOX, actually received a high DVR showing with over 40% of it's audience in the 18 -49 demo watching the show via DVR and 32% viewership overall. It had the greatest percent of DVR viewing and the greatest increase in viewers via the DVR for all broadcast shows. That is most likely what prompted Fox to renew the series. (Personally I'm not a fan, but my husband does watch it when he has a chance on the DVR).

So, it will be interesting to watch how TV evolves as more and more homes get the DVR ( I believe currently only approx 25% of homes have them). For now it seems to be having a pretty even affect, helping some shows and hurting others.

Just thought if you were ever curious like me, you'd enjoy the little blog about it.