As anyone who owns a DVR can tell you, DVR-owners watch fewer ads. A three-year study from Information Resources Inc. confirms this obvious point, according to Ad Age, but goes a step further by suggesting that DVR-owners end up buying fewer new packaged goods.
They bought 5% fewer top brand products, and 20% fewer of all branded
products in the study. If a brand spent a good chunk of its advertising
budget outside television, however, the DVR-household bought the
same amount as non-DVR households.
If a network promo ad airs in the first "commercial pod" spot — meaning
the first commercial spot during a break — 60% of DVR-owners will watch
it. Whether that is due to the timing of the promo
spot — clicker-wranglers are likely to be slower to skip the first
commercial — or to the compelling content of a promo spot is unclear.
But the study yielded a few more interesting behavioral tidbits about
commercial-skippers. In the study, DVR-owners recorded 42% of
everything they watched on CBS but only recorded 10% of everything
watched on the Food Network — that implies that when there's nothing good
to watch on the TiVo and nothing much else to watch on TV, DVR-owners
would rather channel surf over to Food Network than CBS.
Another behavior tic: DVR-owners record 34% of everything that airs on
Fridays, but only 15% of shows that air on Sunday. —Rachel Rosmarin
