Younger adult viewers are two-and-a-half times more likely than older viewers to be technologically proactive in catching up on television shows they missed, according to a new study by The Nielsen Company.
The same study reported that more than half of older viewers will do nothing or wait for reruns if they miss an episode.
The study was conducted by Nielsen in October with more than 1,500 adults at the CBS Television City research facility in Las Vegas.
It also found that 56% of 18-34 year old adults use new technologies such as digital video recorders (DVRs), the internet, video on demand and MP3 players to follow their favourite series, compared to 21% for viewers over age 55.
Steve McGowan, Nielsen senior vice president, client research initiatives, said: “Younger viewers have been faster than older generations to adopt new television options, but since technology adoption is increasing within all age groups, this study gives us a glimpse into a future when all viewers will take more initiative to catch up on shows they have missed.
“This will have tremendous implications on how networks schedule and distribute their programming.”
The single largest factor that drove awareness of internet-based streaming alternatives, said Nielsen, was not high-speed Internet access at home, but whether the respondents had loaded iTunes on their home PCs.
25% of respondents said they had watched a full-length episode streamed online in the past three months, led by 18-34 year olds (39%). Only 11% of older (55+) respondents said they had done so.
In a separate report published by Nielsen Online at the start of November, it was revealed that almost 21 million Britons visited a TV, video or movie-related website in Sept 07, a 28% increase in visitors since Sept 06 (see 21 Million Britons Visit Video Websites In September).
The TV/Video/Movie sector online is now visited by 63% of Britons online; up from 55% in Sept 06 – a growth rate of 15%.
Meanwhile, a report from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) found that European internet users are spending an average of 12 hours a week online, an hour more than last year, with youngsters spending more time with their computers rather than the traditional TV set (see Young Europeans Now Spending More Time Online Than With TV).
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