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

I think most DVR users don't fast forward.

[rsvedersky]

Most of the DVR users I know seem to "forget" that they can fast forward and its not an issue. What I can't wait for is when viewership is actually tracked instead of by some representative selection of people who never seem to like the shows I like.

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

[wikdwarlock]

My experience w/ a DVR is just the opposite, and is telling of how much I, and our culture, equate the real world to TV. I've found that since getting a DVR, I am inclined to rewind to make sure I heard something correctly, to laugh at someone picking their nose in an audience, to give myself extra time to solve the final Wheel of Fortune puzzle, etc. I skip as many ads as I can when we've partially recorded a show, and get miffed when I see the dreaded "Live Tv" message on screen. Ads in fully recorded shows are almost universally skipped unless they happen to contain something interesting to catch my eye in the half second of them I see as they're skipped. Furthermore, when I now listen to the radio, I find myself wanting to rewind it to hear the part of the traffic report I missed while not paying full attention. I also want to rewind conversations I've just had with people to recall what was said. The DVR experience of being able to pause, rewind, etc, has become so integral to my TV watching that it has bled over into other parts of my life where content is perhaps not fully registered on first "viewing". In my personal experience, the DVR fundamentally changes TV into an active process and affects how I look at other things as well.

And they know this...how?

[Ngarrang]

And just how do they know that DVRs are not skipping commercials? I do not see a reference in the article to specific DVRs that would report such a thing back to Nielson.

The commercials can usually be ignored when the show is finally watched or burned to DVD, right? The DVRs I see advertised all seem to offer this feature. I am looking to buy a combo DVD/VHS/DVR this year, so this feature sounds remotely useful to save DVD space. More shows per DVD!

Re:perhaps they are recording the ads

[QBasicer]

I don't own a DVR, but I never bothered to fastforward during ads when watching VHS. Sometimes you saw the old commercials you remember from a long time ago, which is kinda fun...I guess.

Actually, ads don't really bother me, unless they're too redundant (same 2 ads every break, repeated once or twice during each break).

Personal Experience

[neersign]

I know that I personally do fast forward thru most ads when wawtching a program on my DVR, but I do often stop and rewind to watch a particular advert. Sometimes its just because something looked funny other times it is genuine interest in the subject. I'd definitely say that it does make my overall experience more pleasurable as I never have to watch one of those "make me want to slit my wrists" Head-On commercials ever again.

Bias....

[packetmon]

Nielsen's new commercial data include an average viewer total for all of a show's commercials when it airs, as well as averages for those who watch commercials on a DVR up to seven days later. Did it occur to Nielen that it probably takes users a little longer to get use to the new functions on a DVR so they likely haven't even understood the concept "Oh man you mean I don't have to watch commercials!". I'd like to see them re-take these numbers in 3 month intervals and watch those numbers drop like the stock market during the dotcom depression

Re:perhaps they are recording the ads

[vux984]

the article clearly indicated that they were NOT skipping the ads.

I have a DVR, I skip a lot of the ads, but not all of them. Sometimes I *want* a break. Sometimes the commercials are entertaining.

I'm sure some people almost always skip the commercials.
I'm sure some people almost never skip the commercials.

But the bottom line is if you start looking at people with viewers, at least SOME of them will be watching the commercials. That's much 'better' than just assuming none of them ever do.

Re:perhaps they are recording the ads

[jellomizer]

Using a Series 1 TiVo. I do that some times but not all the time. Most of the time I just let it play threw and just Use to TiVo to record the Show for me. Skipping Commericals reqires active television watching. Most of the time I am more passive TV watching while the show I playing I do something else. I normally get a Jist of what is going on and Ill stop every once in a while to see what is happening but I am not intently watching the show. Also it depends on how much free time. If I have like 20 mintues free I can watch a quick 30 minute show in that time if I skip commericals then I do so. But if I have a lot of free time and not much else to watch after that then I let it play threw. Advertisements are not Evil, but sometimes they are annoying. I use the TiVo as a tool to make my life better. Not so I can be an Anial Hyper Liberal and put work and effort to Fast Forward threw comericals just because they are there.

Re:perhaps they are recording the ads

[walt-sjc]

I normally skip ads, but occasionally I just forget, and if the ad isn't totally annoying I find myself watching it until my wife reminds me to "bloop bloop bloop" (tivo 30 sec skip hack...)

What will instantly prompt me to pick up the remote and "bloop" is obnoxious ads, such as Vonage woo hoo (fuck you too) and car dealership ads. Why is it that all car dealerships have horrible obnoxious ads? Hell, they are even worse that inane ads for "hot pockets" or tampons...

If we could thumb up or down ads as we watch, maybe we would get better quality ads.

Re:perhaps they are recording the ads

[Bobartig]

Me and my girlfriend are aggressive "Always skip the Ads" people. Mainly because we are impatient and want to watch more TV in less time. When we go other places that have TV's (and at some point play ads), we're constantly like "What the hell is that?" because we watch so few ads now, and some of them are freakishly weird the first few times you see them.

And then people we know will say 'you know that ad where [insert ad description here]?' and we always say 'we don't watch ads...' they always stare at us like we have a second head or something (as if ad skipping DVR's weren't 5+ years old).

Re:perhaps they are recording the ads

[misleb]

You seem to have spend days of work and completely realtered your life, just to avoid seeing adds, you are spending your relaxation time to avoid watching adds. You are on a major quest to save the world from something that is not a real threat.

No, I installed MythTV to get DVR capabilities which also happens to have commercial auto-skip as a feature. The time I have saved by skipping ads easily makes up for the time spent setting up the DVR. 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there really adds up quickly.

As for internet ads, I simply intalled AdBlock Plus and subscribed to the standard block lists, et voila, virtual ad-free internet. Couldn't be happier.

And so what if I did spend some relaxation time setting it up? a) That kind of thing interests me. That is, tinkering with Linux and OSS, b) not seeing ads really is that important to me. Maybe it seems strange to you, but I can't stand having my shows interrupted every 5 minutes. It ruins the shows for me. Especially towards the end of the show when commercial breaks get longer and longer because they know they have you "hooked"... You can only go to the bathroom so many times or make so many sandwhiches before you're just stuck there watching that mindless drivel called advertisements.

But come to think of it, I did kind of rearrange my life. But in a totally good way. I stopped sitting down to channel surf for hours at a time. Without ad skipping, I'd switch channels during commercial breaks and look for somethign else to watch. Now I just sit down and watch the few shows that I actually like, skip the ads (saving nearly cutting time spent watching by 33%), and go do something either more productive or more interesting.

Conservatives normally realize that TV Adds do help pay for the cost of the Show we watch.

Everyone realizes that. But we're under no obligation to actually watch them. If you think you are, you're a fool. It has nothing to do with politics.

But don't think I am for Viral Advertisment like SPAM, Billboards, where the only people who benefit are the advertisers and not the general public.

Spam is not viral advertisement. Viral advertisement is when someone makes an ad that people pass on to their friends. Billboards get people to buy stuff and therefore spur the economy. Doesn't tht benefit the general public? Why don't you make a point of looking at every billboard? It might prompt you to buy something and help some business make money and pay employees. Wouldn't that generous of you.

-matthew