DVR use does/doesn't boost viewing hours

Since a fairly standard line in the DVR debate centers around the usually assumed idea that DVR users are watching more TV, therefore making up for those ads they're skipping, some new analysis by Mediamark Research has come out with a surprisingly opposite result. Mediamark's numbers state that 20 percent of adults watch 44.5 hours or more of TV per week, while only 15.7 of DVR owners watch that much boob tube. The numbers come from in-home interviews of 26,000 adults from March '05 to March '06, but the broadcast networks aren't buying it. David Poltrack of CBS said that interviewees often under report TV watching, and that the research by Arbitron that is usually cited -- which conveniently points to more viewing and therefore more ad dollars -- is machine-recorded, and therefore more reliable. We're kind of on the fence here, since we ourselves have been known to lie about our TV viewing habits during an embarrassing Veronica Mars kick last year, but the fact that Arbitron's research comes from 2,000 households in Houston during the Sprint of 2005 doesn't really incite confidence. Perhaps we'll just wait for TiVo to shed some light on the subject.

[Thanks, David]

[Mike @ Aug 1st 2006 9:27AM]

20 percent of non-DVR-owning adults watching over 44.5 hours, with only 15.7 percent of DVR owners watching that much? Maybe this is an indication that people who can afford DVRs have jobs...

[Carl Trimble @ Aug 1st 2006 9:31AM]

No one is getting the point here... Since I acquired my TiVo I have "actually" watched more television then before. When I did not have TiVo I sat in front of the television more but did I "actually" watch any of it? Nope, just pushing the channel up button a whole bunch of times. Now I watch what I want when I want and nothing more. So in a way I am watching more, and in a way I am watching less. You decide.

[Jeremiah @ Aug 1st 2006 9:32AM]

44.5 hours? I don't spend that much time at work. Let's see, 44.5 divided by 7 days a week... that's an average of 6 hours and 21 minutes a day. That's a lot of TV time. I can't even find that much programming to record with my DVR, much less find time to watch it.

[khamel @ Aug 1st 2006 10:13AM]

whats embarassing about veronica mars? its a fantastic show. every person i have converted has stayed true to the church of veronica mars. you just need to strengthen your convictions.

[Andy S. @ Aug 1st 2006 10:14AM]

I know that I have watched far more programming (and the last 0-8 seconds of the last commercial in each commercial block) since I bought my TiVo. The simple fact is that most of the programming that I want to watch is on during times when I'm not home to watch it.

Simply put, if I didn't have TiVo, I wouldn't bother to watch TV. Think about that, advertisers.

[teo @ Aug 1st 2006 10:19AM]

i definitely watch less tv, and do it more conveniently since getting my DVR (in Nov 06). I record only the shows I want, have them on auto record and ignore the TV for 23hrs a day. When I get a spare hour (actually only need 40 min, no thanks to the advertisers) I can plop down and watch what I recorded several days ago.
Honestly, I can't remember the time I watched "live" TV. This goes too for sports events which I "time-delay" by at least 20-30 min so that I can skip commercials and still see the end of it "live".

[Eric @ Aug 1st 2006 10:26AM]

1 in 5 adults is spending as much time watching TV as a full time JOB! It's no wonder there is a weight problem here in the US.

For me the DRV I bought ended up just being a stepping stone to stopping watching broadcast TV all together. Once I was off the force fed TV schedule I just started to realize how bad it all wal. I just can't find anything to get excited about anymore with TV. Between netflix, XBMC, Snes9x, and many offline hobbies I just don't have time for broadcast TV anymore.

[Blair @ Aug 1st 2006 10:35AM]

The numbers are weird because they are arguing diffrent things. Saying that people with DVR's watch less tv than those people that don't isn't saying much. It's saying that unemployed people who cant afford a DVR sit in front of there tv for 7 hours a day, where the people that have dvrs sit in front of it for 2-3. The important number is how much more tv are the DVR folks watching compared to before they had a DVR. If they used to watch 1 hour a day, and with the DVR they watch 3, thats still means that people with DVR's will watch more tv.

[Walkin' @ Aug 1st 2006 10:40AM]

I know I watch more tv now that I have a Tivo than I did without it.

[aeo @ Aug 1st 2006 10:47AM]

I wouldn't watch TV at all if it weren't for my DVR.

[shirizaki @ Aug 1st 2006 10:59AM]

DVR saves me from staying up all night and saves the shows during the day I might watch. I still "channel surf", but much less than before DVR. Hell, if I see an interesting commercial, I'll watch it.

[Wonderboy @ Aug 1st 2006 11:07AM]

Teo has a time machine... sweet!

Anyway... they seem to be missing something important here. I agree with what everyone is saying about people with the money to buy a DVR work more and watch less... but the advertisers and stats groups are missing the fact that these people buy more stuff. So 2 hours a day of tv on Tivo is better for the advertisers than 12 hours a day for the guy sitting in a run-down trailer park. (minus the ad skipping of course).

This all points to the simple solution of viral marketing... make ads that are as entertaining as the sit-com we're (typically) skipping the ads for, and you'll get the trailer-park guy and the lawyer on Park Ave watching the ad, Tivo or not.

[hoaxMail @ Aug 1st 2006 11:09AM]

Since I got my TiVo I've found myself sending a lot more emails. Strange..?!

[Al Chumley @ Aug 1st 2006 11:12AM]

Yep, you really can't trust anything from the "Sprint of 2005". The Verizon of 2005, however, is much more trustworthy :-)

[J Maxfield @ Aug 1st 2006 11:23AM]

You are dudes, right? And the show's Kristin Bell is super hot, right? No shame, fellas. No shame!

I mean, it's not like you're watching the Gilmore Girls every Tuesday night at 7, and every GG rerun on ABC Family (airs daily), and taking trips to YALE to see where Rory is living and going to school and buying a Prius because Rory Gilmore has one...

oh, crap.

[Pete @ Aug 1st 2006 11:25AM]

In a similar vein to what Blair is saying, these two sets of numbers could both be correct.

It could be that non-DVR users watch more TV on average, but that DVR use _increases_ TV viewing. In order to refute that you'd need a before/after type survey.

It's less important whether or not DVR users watch more TV on a weekly basis and more important whether or not the effect of the DVR is more TV viewing.

[Captain K @ Aug 1st 2006 11:43AM]

I stopped watching television for over a year after I got completely agravated with all of the advertisements. You really cannot enjoy a primetime television show anymore. When I purchased my DVR, my viewing time has skyrocketed. Don't these advertisers understand that they need a new medium for forcing their products upon us? I specifically won't buy a product if their advertisement interrupts my program. It annoys me and makes me dislike the company.

[Big Sam @ Aug 1st 2006 11:44AM]

Before my DVR I watched a lot of tapes recorded with my VCR, when it worked correctly and wasn't full. So I watch more TV now because I can reliably record more shows, and have the room to record more movies, and can record in HD.

[Big Sam @ Aug 1st 2006 11:46AM]

Oh and I'm far more likely to watch a commercial in HD than one that's in SD. At least for now...

[Dave @ Aug 1st 2006 11:56AM]

Boo! There's nothing wrong with Veronica Mars, it's one of the best shows in years!

[Bud Landry @ Aug 1st 2006 12:31PM]

I think one does watch more TV with a DVR. What it DOES possibly cut down on, is the use of the TV as an ambient ALWAYS-ON burblebot. When people realize they can ACTIVELY watch the tv they want WHEN they have time, they end up actively viewing more, but cutting off the set to do other things the rest of the time.. the TV may be on less.

Is that lost ad revenue? I was a neilsen family that kept the TV on TechTV 24 hours a day. If I heard a news story repeated I had missed earlier, I might 'attend', otherwise, I was in the other room doing stuff.

[Nick @ Aug 1st 2006 2:36PM]

This is a poorly-constructed survey. The key question is whether people who have DVRs watch more TV than they would if they didn't have a DVR. The people who don't have DVRs are different than those who have them (lower socioeconomic status, more unemployment, probably spend less time on internet/video games).

[Franck @ Aug 1st 2006 2:42PM]

at 11:56AM on Aug 1st 2006 Dave said : quote "Boo! There's nothing wrong with Veronica Mars, it's one of the best shows in years!"
You do think that???

[Calvin @ Aug 3rd 2006 1:42PM]

Don't understand how this is suprising. The key to DVR's is directed content. You assemble what YOU want to watch and have it record while you are away from the TV. You amass essentially a library. Then when you sit down in front of your TV, you can watch things you had intended to watch.

People without DVR's tend to channel surf and watch a ton of crap that they don't like simply because they are searching for something to watch and get sucked into watching things that they would never pick to record/watch under normal circumstances (kinda like you should never go grocery shopping when you are hungry, otherwise you will buy a lot more food - and a lot more crappy food at that).

DVR's allow people to sit down (when they have time or want to watch something) and pick exactly what they want to watch from all the things they have recorded. When they are done, either they are interested or they get up and do something else. They feel satisfied at having watching something they wanted to watch rather than the aimless surfing.

[James Smith @ Aug 4th 2006 7:12PM]

When I first had a DVR, I didn't watch TV anymore than I did before. However I did watch more shows that I actually wanna see, so maybe that should be the question. By watching shows I like, I'm actually paying attention to the shows (and possibly the commercials). However when I get home (w/o a DVR) and all I find is reality shows on, I tend not to pay attention to them and their sponsors.