US DVR households to hit 54.6m
Magna’s latest On-Demand Quarterly report predicts that US digital video recorder (DVR) subscriber households will reach 54.6 million (44% of TV households) by the end of 2016, up from 34.5 million (30% of TV households) in 2009.
However, Magna added that the aggregated impact of DVRs will probably continue to be outpaced by a rising population and an increase in the consumption of conventional TV.
By 2016, video on demand is expected to reach 65 million households (approximately 53% of television households). This compares with 47.3 million VOD households (41% of total TV households) at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009.
Magna had previously estimated 77.6 million US households were online in 2009, however, it has reviewed US census data and says it appears likely that this figure was closer to 81.7 million. “Given this new data, which indicates an accelerating pace of growth in online access during the past few years, we now expect 100.2 million households to be online in 2016, of which 99.2 million will have broadband services.”
Recent UK research from Starcom Mediavest Groupfound that Freeview personal video recorder (PVR) owners watch less TV than Sky+ and V+ users.
SMG also found viewers who upgrade from Freeview to Freeview PVR watch around 50 minutes less TV per day than their pay-TV counterparts – more than 20% less than Sky+ and V+ viewers, making them the hardest audience to reach.