Most DVR Owners Are Recording Live Sports, Survey Says (cnet.com)

A new survey by Thuurz Sports, a company that works with TV providers to increase the size of sports viewing audiences, finds that 84.1 percent of DVR owners record live sports, many of them as a "backup" for when they might miss the end (or the beginning) or the game, and a majority (58 percent) to skip the ads. From a report on CNET: "Over the past decade, DVR viewing has undermined certain elements of the TV business. Reacting to this threat, sports TV executives have rightly focused on the genre's relative strength, calling sports programming 'DVR-proof'," says Brian Ring, the consultant who created the survey for Thuuz, in the press release. "Sports are best viewed live, but this survey highlights the fact that most fans with DVRs regularly use. Most TV shows and movies these days are available on-demand from various sources, but live events, particularly sports, are considered among the most "DVR-proof" since there's more value in seeing the result live.

Comments

The survey between the commercials.

[geekmux]

"Sports are best viewed live..."

"...live events, particularly sports, are considered among the most "DVR-proof" since there's more value in seeing the result live."

Oh really? What this survey actually highlights is just how much we all fucking hate commercials, no matter what is on TV.

Here's hoping the bullshit valuation driving obscene commercial costs shrinks to where it should be.

Re:The survey between the commercials.

[lalleglad]

I agree with you, and coming from Europe I am usually amazed by the level of commercials on US TV channels, when I visit.
Except for just being annoying with the interrupts, it must also be annoying to know that when they for example do show movies, between the commercials, then it has been cut to fit the time slots. So you can never expect to see a full movie on TV.
This looks like greed that hasn't been controlled.

I am sure your new president will change that, or will he? I mean, he is a TV man, isn't he? ;-)

I don't care if I know the outcome

[sjbe]

Most TV shows and movies these days are available on-demand from various sources, but live events, particularly sports, are considered among the most "DVR-proof" since there's more value in seeing the result live.

I never quite understood this. I don't deny that it is true for many people but it doesn't make sense to me personally. Knowing the outcome in advance doesn't make an event more or less enjoyable for me. In fact in some cases it make it less pleasant if I actually care about the outcome. (I don't enjoy being nervous) I'd actually rather know in advance which are the good games worth watching most of the time. When I watch sports I watch to admire the beauty of the game. I'm interested in the techniques and tactics and strategies. Knowing the outcome just makes it like watching a movie like Titanic where I know the outcome but the interesting bit is how they got there.

Yes, I do.

[bfwebster]

I DVR virtually any sports event I'm interested in. If I'm watching "live", it lets me pause the game for whatever reason, then skip over ads until I catch up again. If I'm not that invested in the game, or if I have other things interfering with seeing it live, I'll record it, see what the final score is, then decide whether I want to actually watch it. The upside is that I can skip thru ads.

Re:not just live sports

[CohibaVancouver]

My GF watches lots of TV live - reality TV and sometimes drama

I will almost never watch live, but I'll watch quasi-live. Assuming a show like The Walking Dead will have approximately 16 minutes of ads, I'll start playing the recording as the show is still recording. So I'll start watching 15-20 minutes after the show has started, skip the commercials throughout and I'll finish watching just as it finishes the broadcast.

Re:It's families with kids

[93 Escort Wagon]

I love how those ads feature women who could probably turn a 90-year-old guy's wang into a hat rack without chemical assistance.

Delayed start, live end

[Aqualung812]

I've not had a DVR for a couple of years now, but when I did, I would take a rough guess to start anywhere from 30-90 minutes late on the broadcast of whatever sportsball or racing I was watching.

The goal was to skip every commercial, yet still end up live for the last 30-10 minutes.

No spoiled results, and very few commercials in the last bit. Worked great.

I also did with with shows with big reveals and lots of live views, like The Walking Dead. Those are a predictable 10 minute delay to catch up to live by the last commercial break.

Re: They just need to ad more advertisements

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Er...NASCAR is a commercial: essentially its racing billboards for national brands.

Same credibility as a **IA-paid report

[DCFusor]

Really, this should be obvious. Outfit that sells stuff pays for a report that says they're being ripped off - likely inflated numbers - as a background to get legislation to tax DVR owners or whatever other skim they can easy-street or litigate from. "Look, we lose x-zillion bucks from every recorder". Sound familiar? Remember the "tax" on blank CD's and so forth, since "they can only be used to pirate"? This is how the big boys operate, we should have learned long ago.