PVRs & Time-Shifted Viewing
What is a PVR?
Personal Video Recorders (PVRs), also known as Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), allow viewers to record their favourite programs on a hard-disk drive which can then be played back at a later time (which is known as time-shift viewing). The device allows for recording of multiple programs while watching another and effectively allows users to pause live TV.
How many homes have a PVR?
Almost half of Australian households now have a PVR device.
How is PVR viewing measured?
On 27 December 2009, adjustments were made to the Australia’s TV ratings system to include the measurement of time-shift viewing. In addition to ‘Live’ viewing, any viewing of programs done at normal speed within seven days of the original broadcast (called ‘Playback’) is also now measured and reported.
It is important to note that fast-forwarded content is not counted. The Live and Playback viewing figures are aggregated to provide a ‘consolidated’ rating - which is a more accurate measurement of a program or channel's audience.
For further information about Time Shift Viewing and Australian TV ratings click here.
What is the impact of PVRs on viewing?
Deloitte Report
Deloitte’s 2011 Media Trends report predicts that TV advertising will be almost entirely unaffected by further growth in PVR penetration. Deloitte argues that while PVRs provide the technological capacity to skip ads, the majority of PVR owners continue watching the vast majority of their television live.
To view a copy of the report (which includes data on PVR viewing behaviour) click here.
BBM Research
Roughly half of PVR users stop to watch TV ads that are of interest to them, according to a survey conducted in 2010 on behalf of TVB Canada by BBM Analytics. The survey, which polled 1,000 people, also found that the vast majority of those who fast forward commercials report awareness of the advertisers in the ads they are skipping.
Like Australia, almost all weekly viewing in Canada is done in real time, allowing for full commercial exposure. According to BBM Canada, adults watch over 29 average weekly hours of television. Of this total, the average weekly hours of live viewing is over 28 hours (96.9 per cent of viewing), while the average weekly hours of playback viewing is just 3.1 per cent of viewing. Click here to view the statistics from BBM Canada.
For the small percentage of people who don’t watch their television live, the survey revealed that when fast forwarding during PVR playback, 45 per cent of adults say they stop to watch commercials that are of interest to them. It was even higher for those aged 35-49 (51.9 per cent), and 35-54 (54.6 per cent). The main reasons for stopping to watch a commercial during playback for adults was that they found the commercial entertaining (42.9 per cent), and they were interested in the product (41.3 per cent).
In addition, the survey found that when fast forwarding or skipping through commercials, 66.9 per cent of adults said that they are aware of the advertisers. This was even higher for the 18-49 (69.8 per cent) and 25-49 (75.7 per cent) demographics.
The results of this survey confirm the negligible impact of PVR technology on the potential of television commercial exposure. This study also confirms that the art of targeted placement of commercials, and the art of crafting appealing and engaging television creative is more important than ever.
The survey below was conducted by BBM Analytics using their omniVU telephone survey.
For a copy of the reserach, click here.
Is time-shift viewing driving incremental audiences?
PVR viewing is driving incremental audiences for advertisers, every week. To view a copy of the top time shifted programs click here.