Demand for Personal Video Recorder (PVR) products increased hugely in 2004, with unit shipments rising to over 11.4 million in 2004, up from 4.6 million in 2003, signalling an increase in consumer awareness of the concept of time-shifting television programming.
According to research firm, In-Stat’s new report,
TV Time-Shifting on the Rise: Worldwide PVR Unit Shipments More Than Double in 2004, worldwide households subscribing to a PVR service increased to over 9.2 million in May 2005, from 3.6 million in the same period last year.
Worldwide PVR product revenues have also risen rapidly, rising to more than $4.3 billion in 2004, up from $2.1 billion in 2003.
Commenting on the new research, Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst said: “The deployment of PVR products has been a success story for both pay-TV service providers and consumer electronics manufactures.”
Paxton added: “While the current growth of PVRs is being spurred by satellite TV set top box products and DVD recorders with built-in hard disk drives, other product segments like cable TV set top box-based PVRs are also flying off the shelves.”
In-Stat reveals that North America remains the largest market for PVRs, followed by Japan, with the two regions accounting for 88% of total worldwide PVR product unit shipments in 2004.
Over the next five years PVRs are set to enjoy massive growth, with penetration expected to reach over 11% of television households worldwide, according to a report from Informa Media (see DVRs Set To Become Essential Household Items).
North America is predicted to lead the way in terms of household penetration, with nearly 54 million homes expected to have a PVR by 2010, followed by Asia Pacific with 32 million homes and Europe with nearly 31 million (see PVRs Penetration To Reach 30% By 2010).
PVR penetration in the UK is forecast to reach five million in the next four years, with penetration set to reach 21% of the population by 2008, increasing to 34% by 2012, according to research from Starcom (see PVRs Causing Increasing Threat To Advertisers).
As a result of this dramatic uptake Starcom estimates that, by 2008, advertisers will have lost 6% of commercial impacts – that is the opportunity for an individual to see a 30-second ad.
The increasing penetration of PVRs is causing growing concern for advertisers, with homes using the technology skipping through 77% of ad breaks during the 42% of shows that are recorded, according to new research unveiled at the beginning of the year at the Oxford Media Convention.
Related Links
