Research Suggests Advertisements Still Viewed Live By PVR Viewers

The aim of the study was to explore viewers’ behaviour during commercial breaks, in a small qualitative sample of eight homes, during both live and time-shifted viewing, with the findings intended to be complementary to large-sample research such as that carried out by BARB in the UK or Nielsen in the US. From the eight homes data were collected on 22 people who were filmed for 2-3 weeks, none of whom knew that the study was about advertising.

The research estimates that including televisions without PVRs, 80% of advertisements in the households studied were watched live, adding that these figures suggest that in a wider digital context the shift from live to on-demand viewing over the next 10 years will not be as dramatic as many predict.

Although it shows that the subjects fast forwarded most time-shifted commercials, attention was high during fast forwarding. The authors said that their results, which tally with BARB’s, suggest that fewer than 20% of advertisements in PVR homes are fast forwarded, and only about one-third of fast forwarded ads were zoomed through at maximum speed.

The authors also said that when fast forwarding the ads, viewers invariably concentrated on the screen and sometimes commented on the advertisements or watched them at a slower speed, with some even rewinding to watch the ads again. However, the authors did not mention if any of the subjects were concentrating on the ads in order not to fast forward past the start of the programme.

The research says that taking into account optimistic assumptions about penetration and early adopters, PVR time-shifted viewing of channels could account for just 15% of all viewing in 10 years’ time, with similarly optimistic assumptions about video-on-demand (VoD) adding, at most, 5%-10% true on demand viewing. The authors also say that if the BARB data (supported by their own study) is correct and over 80% of viewing in Sky+ homes is done live then it is difficult to see how more than a small minority of homes will switch to a routine where true on-demand content accounts for more than 10% or 20% of viewing.

In most of the households included in the study, programmes were recorded to the PVR from channels that the user would normally watch. In addition, the study suggests that in 10 years, 75%-80%-plus of viewing would still be live, with 90%-95% (ie all the live and time-shift viewing) would still be based on channels, most of them favourite ones. The authors said that this went against the assumptions of some who believe that channels are a dying breed in the face of increasing video-on-demand.

The full findings from the research will be released in a report later this year.

Recent research, conducted by Millward Brown in the US, said that TV viewers using PVRs do not display any significant difference in ad recall or ad recognition when compared with viewers not using the technology (see Ad Recognition Not Affected By PVRs).

Also speaking at the meeting was Nigel Jacklin, managing director of Objective Research, who discussed a survey about the current and potential media consumption patterns of senior individuals in business and influential occupations.

Jacklin was sceptical about the impact mobile technology would have on consumers, suggesting that people are more comfortable with content on a large screen, like that of a laptop, rather than on the screen of a mobile phone. He also said that although many people expect that in five years time “everybody will be doing everything on the internet”, it would not in fact replace linear media but would rather redefine it.

In contrast, Vodafone has said that mobile will make great strides in the near future, as long as it focuses on quality of content (see Mobile TV Will Rely On Content).