DVRs increase TV consumption, and Nielsen ought to know
History repeats itself, indeed. Old-timers will remember the outcry among movie studios that felt VHS would mean death to Hollywood (that didn't happen). And not too long ago, the TV industry felt that the DVR would be its own Black Plague. But Nielsen, the company that watches what you watch, reports that viewing has actually increased with DVR uptake. This report confirms earlier studies showing the same trend. According to Nielsen, the DVR has shifted primetime content viewing to beyond the traditional primetime slot and allowed viewing of programs that would have gone unseen without DVRs. Go figure -- as access to content is made more convenient, consumption goes up! Here's to hoping that the TV industry takes the lesson to heart and focuses more on producing of programs we want to watch than on controlling how we watch it.
