When they were first launched on the market, there were widspread fears personal video recorders (PVRs) could sound the death knell for TV advertising (see Insight Analysis: Should Advertisers Fear Digital Video Recorders?). In truth, the reality has failed to live up to the hype but there are emerging signs that consumers are taking to the technology leading to increased anxiety in the advertising fraternity.
According to the
Jack Myers Report Brand Tracker, a surprising 18.7% of US homes now have a PVR, such as TiVo or Replay. installed. This estimate seems somewhat high when compared with recent forecasts from Screen Digest (see
PVR Penetration To Remain Low, Says Screen Digest) and Informa Media (see
PVRs To Emerge As A Force, Says Informa Media) but may not be too far off the mark given that respondents tend to reflect their recent purchases and immediate plans to acquire the technology. Only last week, TiVo said that subscriber numbers had increased by almost two-thirds in the past year (see
TiVo Gives A Shot In The Arm To PVR Market) and AOL Time Warner is known to be testing a digital recording service, called Mystro TV, that it plans to roll out to its cable subscribers.
Of those respondents who claim to own a PVR, over 50% claim to skip through all or most of the commercials that are shown. Given the rate of uptake, this raises all sorts of questions over the future impact of television advertising. However as has already been pointed out, it is the responsibility of advertisers to be innovative in their approach and adopt new tactics to reach the next generation of TV viewers (see PVR Technology Will Force Advertisers To Adapt, Says Forrester).
| Frequency With Which PVR Users Fast Forward Through Commercials |
| |
|
| |
% Of Respondents |
| Skip All Commercials |
30.9 |
| Skip Most Commercials |
21.7 |
| Skip Some Commercials |
12.6 |
| Skip A Few Commercials |
4.2 |
| Skip Commercials But Stop On Selected Ones |
15.3 |
| Skip Hardly Any Commercials |
0.7 |
| Never Skip Any Commercials |
14.6 |
| Total |
100.0 |
| Source: Jack Myers Report, March 2003 |
Other findings The study also found that the percentage of homes with high speed cable or DSL lines has more than doubled from 13.5% in January 2002 to 28% in the same month this year. Just over a fifth of respondents said they had a cable modem and 7.4% use a digital subscriber line provided by a telephone company for high-speed connectivity.
The average American home now has access to 85 television channels, up from 71 last year and satellite is becoming ever more popular with 18% penetration compared to just 10% a year ago. By contrast, cable distribution has declined noticeably from 88% to 75% over the same period.
