DVR Viewers Push Ad Ratings Higher

An anonymous reader writes "It looks like DVRs and timeshifting has finally done what many people said it would do: increased overall viewership! USA Today reports: 'Among the things the report revealed is that many DVR viewers do not fast-forward through ads. The viewer total for broadcast network ads goes up 32% when DVR watchers within three days are included, according to Nielsen. For some prime-time shows, it means that DVR viewing, long seen as a threat to advertising, could even bring higher ad prices. NBC's The Office, for example, had a live-plus-three Nielsen commercial rating of 3.36 — higher than the 3.11 it got for the week of May 6 under the traditional Nielsen program rating system.' Makes me wonder where this will lead for my favorite genre shows which by their very nature have a higher DVR component and have seen declining viewership using the older methodology (BSG, SG-1, etc)."

Comments

Re:Why only 3 days?

[ajanp]

"Live-plus-three" is basically an agreement between broadcasters and advertisers to agree to count viewers who watch the show within a 72 hour time period. It's pretty recent and it's being used nowadays due to the increasing number of viewers who watch shows via TiVO, DVR (I forget the exact number, but it's between 15-20% of American households now own a DVR), iPOD downloads, web broadcasts, etc.

Generally, adverstisers prefer to use "live" to determine rates (some commercials like movie releases can have less of an impact after time passes), broadcasters prefer "live-plus-seven", so I think "live-plus-three" became the compromise to include those people who do watch the show, but just aren't able to watch it live.

I'm not in that industry, but it seems like a pretty decent compromise (and I believe it's quickly becoming the new standard when negotiating ad rates) given the availability of recording devices and the significant amount of delayed viewing that occurs.

Re:And they know this...how?

[Otter]

I often thought of that same thing , how can they track what I watch and what I do.

Nielsen has no idea what you are doing. They recruit viewers who install special monitoring equipment and/or keep diaries and extrapolate that to the overall population.

Re:perhaps they are recording the ads

[Maximum Prophet]

Your Tivo knows which parts you've fast forwarded through, and which parts you have repeated. All this info is sent back to the mother ship.

Re:DVR

[k3v0]

you can program this into the remote and then select which button you want to be the skip. http://dcortesi.com/2005/05/04/motorola-dct6412-co mcast-dvr-30-second-skip/

How sustainable

[btempleton]

Yes, I have noticed that many DVR users, perhaps call them "less sophisticated" ones do not always FF over the ads.

However, we MythTV users don't FF over ads, the skip is instantaneous. The system makes judements, about 95% accurate
over where the ad bounds are. When an ad is coming up, it says "3 minute commercial break" in a pop up and you push
a key to skip it. If it has guessed wrong on the length that's usually obvious, and of course it's obvious on the
start. With technologies like this, which the studios have sued to keep out of PVRs, there will be few who don't
skip the breaks, or who even notice interesting ads and rewind to watch them.

Re:I think most DVR users don't fast forward.

[DrEldarion]

I do fast forward most of the time, but sometimes during that fast forwarding I will actually stop and rewind an ad that grabs my eye.

To me, this shows that people will watch well-made commercials. (Witness: Superbowl commercials. People love them.)

VOLUME of commercials remind me

[PoderOmega]

I forget to fast forward sometimes, but unfortunately for the advertisers I do not have any volume normalization on my TV. So when I reach for the remote to turn down the BLARING commercials it reminds me that I can just fast forward through them.

Stop displaying your channel logo

[lobosrul]

I use Showanalyzer to detect commercials on my PVR. I would estimate the latest version is well over 99% accurate if the network displays their logo during the show and not during commercials. So my advice to the networks, stop displaying your annoying channel logo, or display it during the commercials. My other advice, show commercials in HD. Hell, I actually look FOR HD movie trailers on occasion.

Re:DVR

[brianez21]

If you have Comcast, or any television provider that uses the Motorola DCT6412-III digital video recorder, you can program your remote control to gain a 30-second skipahead feature (like TiVo has). Here is the steps:

      1. Press the "Cable" button at the top of the remote so that it is controlling the box.
      2. Press and hold the "Setup" button until the LED under "Cable" flashes twice.
      3. Type in the code 994. The LED will flash twice again.
      4. Press but do not hold the "Setup" button.
      5. Type in the code 00173. This is the skipahead code.
      6. Press whatever button you want to map the skipahead code to. I suggest the "HD Zoom" button since it doesn't appear to do anything.

Just a clarification...

[Manchot]

That data is not tied to an individual's account: it is simply aggregated. This is stated in captial letters very clearly in their Privacy Policy (tivo.com/privacy), which they make you read before you sign up. Even if you only glance through the policy, there's little chance that you'll miss it. Moreover, they allow you to opt out by calling a phone number. Of course, this information isn't just used for their financial benefit, since Tivo's "Suggestions" feature (one of the things that gives Tivo the edge over other DVRs) depends on the ability to collect data anonymously. There are many companies flippant about privacy, but Tivo certainly isn't one of them.

I've been saying this for years...

[slapout]

...if the show comes on while I'm at work, I _can't_ watch it. Unless I can record it and play it back later. Then there's a chance I'll watch the commercials. If I can't time shift, I don't even have a chance at watching the commercials!