10 percent of primetime watched in delay
Cory Bergman May 31st, 2007
Nielsen released the first look at its “commercial ratings” today. With 17 percent of the nation’s TV viewers armed with DVRs, 10 percent of broadcasting primetime programming is now time-shifted. When you combine time-shifted numbers (out to three days) with live numbers, Nielsen said it increases the overall commercial ratings for many shows. For example, The Office jumps from 3.11 to 3.36 among the 18-49 demographic. This is no surprise, as previous ratings didn’t include the time-shifted ratings, and not everyone who watches shows on DVRs are skipping the ads, so there’s a net increase on paper. But when all is said and done, the simple fact remains: people with DVRs skip most of the commercials, and DVR penetration is climbing fast. You do the math.
5 Comments Add your own
1. Rex | May 31st, 2007 at 9:33 am
Even more of a simple fact: people with DVRs have better taste.
(That sounds sarcastic, but it seems to be true!)
2. Jeremiah | May 31st, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Why hasn’t LR stated the obvious? DVR’s make for better television. Adverts are like noisy bastard stepchildren - you HAVE to tolerate their interruptions to your show.
IMHO, LOST is an example of a show that’s absolutely destroyed by advertising interruptions, but really sings on DVD.
Ads also suck. Ad producers discard considerations of continuity when creating their products, and viewers know it.
Agencies would do well to consider producing ads FOR DVR’s…in other words, content compelling enough that people will take the time to watch it…..somewhere other than YouTube.
Broadcasters would be wise to consider upping the bar on advert quality, read: no more auto-dealer “sales events”.
re: the actual blogpost, it would be interesting to see a breakout of DVR penetration by geography - I’d bet there’s more DVR’s on the coasts than the flyovers….
3. Gerald | June 1st, 2007 at 8:15 am
Jeremiah says “I’d bet there’s more DVR’s on the coasts than the flyovers…”
That’s a bet you’d lose. According to Nielsen’s May Universe Estimates, the market with the highest DVR penetration is Austin, Texas at 28.5%. The next 5 are:
Dallas-Ft. Worth 26.5
Los Angeles 25.9
Houston 23.6
San Francisco-Oak-San Jos 23.5
Washington DC 23.0
New York comes in at #32 on the list, behind places like Raleigh, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Tulsa, and Salt Lake City.
I don’t have time to run an analysis, but I’d bet there’s a correlation between high satellite penetration and high DVR penetration, since Dish and DirecTV practically give you the DVR. And those big sparsely-populated areas in the middle of the country are ideal for satellite.
4. Steve | June 1st, 2007 at 9:34 am
Local advertisers would quit making auto-dealer sales events when they stop being effective sales tools. Like them or not, they tend to work.
5. Jeremiah | June 29th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
@ Gerald: Wow - thanks for dropping that in the comments! I’d totally neglected to think of the SAT companies giving the DVR’s with subscriptions. Nice catch!
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