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DVR Owners Don't Always Skip Commercials

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

February 16, 2007, 2:27 PM

A new study out by Nielsen seems to indicate that DVR owners watch far more commercials than some may think.

On average, owners of DVRs still end up watching about two-thirds of ads. A big reason for this is even through many use it to record shows, most still end up watching the show at its normal start time, which means the commercials cannot be fast-forwarded through.

However, as the time of viewing moves away from the actual start time of the program, playback of commercials falls off, as many would expect. It also seems to change with the genre of show. News and sports are commonly watched live, thus commercial viewership here is at its highest, the study finds.

In households with 18-34 year old viewers, almost all of that type of programming is seen the same day. 85 percent of playback for daytime shows occurs the same day, and 75 percent of nighttime shows.

"New digital technologies are changing the way people watch television and Nielsen is committed to helping clients understand and measure this new viewing behavior," Nielsen Media Research general manager Sara Erichson said.

About 40 percent of ads that could be skipped over are still viewed for a variety of reasons, Nielsen found. Analysts say this turns most companies understanding of the allure of DVR on its head -- instead of wanting to time-shift all of their viewing, DVR owners are just looking to time-shift some of it.

Even positioning of the commercial itself within the break will play a large part in whether it ends up being skipped over. TiVo has said it finds the beginning and end of commercial breaks have the highest viewership, with commercials near the middle viewed the least.

Nielsen also said that it has found that about one in five households currently have some type of digital video recording device.

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By googun

edited Feb 20, 2007 - 9:57 AM

I watch commercials because they are often fun, but I buy almost nothing that I see advertised.

btw: 20 years ago I went to a job interview at Nielsen in Oxford, England. To get there I spent two hours on a bus in a traffic jam, then another bus, and then I walked/ran for an hour to reach the office. It rained. I was 3-4 minutes late and they said "As you can't be bothered to turn up on time, we won't see you." I've never forgiven them for that!

Score: 0

By darkzero63

posted Feb 17, 2007 - 9:36 PM

The problem with fast forwarding on a dvr is sometimes you miss time it and shoot past when it goes back to the program.

Score: 0

By lonechicken

posted Feb 20, 2007 - 10:29 AM

Not if you have Tivo. Tivo has a patented feature that automatically adjusts for over-FF or over-Rewinding. DirecTV's new HD-DVR, I heard, has a similar feature.

Score: 0

By drewby

posted Feb 21, 2007 - 3:22 PM

Yeah, Time Warner's DVR has the same features.

Score: 0

By Straspey

posted Feb 17, 2007 - 2:19 PM

Have you ever noticed when a commercial comes on that the volume on your TV increases about 25% - 30% ? Why do you suppose this is ?

It's because the advertisers & TV execs KNOW that you are running to the kitchen, bathroom or checking that unattended operation on your PC during this time. Years ago there was a court case which, I believe, resulted in the broadcasters being banned from doing this, and yet it continues.

Advertisers are so desperate to hold your attention they will go to any length to make the commercial hip, funny, outrageous, etc...even occasionally to the point where the ad itself overwhelms and overshadows the product and/or brand.

The fact that a Tivo owner will watch a commercial is irrelevant. What's really mind boggling is the fact that the advertising industry has been able to suck in the vast majority of the viewing public to such an extent that items like the ads on the Super Bowl become a week-long topic of conversation; and then to make matters evern WORSE, you can watch TV shows devoted to deconstructing the Super Bowl ads AFTER they've aired...and then watch other commercials when they take a break.

Pay attention people.

Score: 0

By Realist

edited Feb 19, 2007 - 10:39 AM

Commercials aren't louder, the shows just aren't as loud as they could be. There is a finite maximum volume level that can be broacast. Humans mainly perceive "average" volume levels. What many commercial makers and especially pop and rock radio stations do is pump up the average volume level by compressing the peaks and expanding the quiet sections. If you look at the waveform you will see that almost everything approaches 0db which is as loud as you can get. When you are watching a movie, only the loudest sections will approach those levels. So, advertisers aren't really turning it up, the program producers just aren't maximizing thier gain.

If your home theater receiver has "night time" settings or something similar to that, what it is doing is bringing up the quiet passages and compressing the loud passages, greatly reducing the dynamic range so everything sounds about the same. I prefer peaks and valleys over flat terrrain any day of the week.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Feb 17, 2007 - 2:14 AM

Actually, it the stupid ones that don't skip commercials. The slowed down commercial idea doesn't work with "skip 30", my personal favorite.

I can't remember watching any show that wasn't DVR'd, I never watch anything in real time unless it's a good movie on HBO or some s***.

Score: 0

By bsf

posted Feb 16, 2007 - 11:36 PM

I watch commercials, the ones that's actually pretty interesting no matter what are they promoting.

there are a lot however, that's just not worth the time to watch. I'd either hit fast forward, or go get something to eat

Score: 0

By reboots2

edited Feb 16, 2007 - 10:43 PM

If someone was really smart, they would make a commercial 'artistically' slow so that when people like us ff thru the commercials, it would appear as real-time! No sound, but like I said before, if done creatively, could be extremely effective! Just my two cents worth.

Score: 0

By kizer_says

posted Feb 16, 2007 - 5:36 PM

I hit fast forward. If the commerical is worth watching I'll stop it and watch it. Otherwise if its womens personal hygene its skipped.

If you want me to watch a commerical make it worth my wild not how to cure a yeast infection or these new maxi pads with wings.

Score: 0

By foxfyre

posted Feb 16, 2007 - 9:20 PM

I agree IF this is in reference to a recorded program AFTER its original play time.

But how, pray tell, does this apply if " most still end up watching the show at its normal start time, which means the commercials cannot be fast-forwarded through."

If you are watching the show in real time, there is no way to fast forward through a commercial that is occurring in real time - just as some rocket scientist in the study discovered.

Or maybe we are all missing the point, which just might be that these idiots in the study have inadvertently discovered "common sense" and the reality that something must have already been recorded to enable one to fast forward through it!

I sure hope that this doesn't set a precedent or start a fad! As if it does, there is no telling just what these fools may discover next!

Once you actually stop and realize what this study is saying, aside from dumbfounded incredulity, the only other reasonable reaction is complete and utter amazement.

I can just visualize the results of their next endeavor: "NEWSFLASH!!! Study group discovers Chicago on a map!!!"

Score: 0

By foxfyre

edited Feb 16, 2007 - 5:00 PM

Let me see if I caught this complex concept...

If you watch a show in real time they can't just fast forward into the future...

But, if they watch a recorded show from the past they can fast forward past the commercials?

REALLY???? Who woulda thunk it!?

DUH!!!

Someone had to study this??? As if there are any other viable alternatives!

Wake me when someone figures out how we can fast forward into the future in real time!

Score: 0

By id242

edited Feb 16, 2007 - 4:09 PM

I wonder how Nielsen tracks how many people are actually siting front of, and actively paying attention to the commercials.

Sometimes when I'm on the computer/Internet, I enjoy having the TV playing something brainless in the background - something that i basically don't HAVE TO pay attention to, but is enjoyable to watch when I'm waiting for the computer to do it's thing/inet page to load. cartoons/adult-swim and just about anything from discovery/history channels works perfectly for this. although i do not watch the commercials during the programs (or even some of the programs for that matter), i enjoy a bit of [stimulating] background noise while i'm doing something else - like replying to the topics here on betanews.

Score: 0

By mannaggia

posted Feb 19, 2007 - 12:12 AM

Obviously they can't tell if you are paying attention to the commercial (or the TV show for that matter).

I did Nielsen for a short time - when watching TV or listening to the radio, you had to wear a small clip-on box, about the size of a pager. Apparently, some sort of audio signal is sent that is picked up by the box and tabulated. At night, I put the box in a cradle and it uploaded the data to headquarters.

So if you were close enough to the TV for it to pick up the signal, it figured you were "watching".

I didn't do it for long - it was a pain in the ***.

Score: 0

By dwaterman

posted Feb 16, 2007 - 3:18 PM

With my DVR I am still watching the ad even though it is being fast forwarded. I still get the message as long as I have seem the ad before. Statistics suck...

Score: 0

By lonechicken

posted Feb 16, 2007 - 2:46 PM

Wow. How much more obvious can any of those findings be? Every last bit seems like common sense to me.

The only times we don't skip commercials on pre-recorded shows are when we need to run to the bathroom or change laundry loads. Not exactly "watching" those commercials.

In-show product placement just seems much more effective in terms of advertising these days.

Score: 0

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