TV Binge and Time shifting Update

The first “TiVo State of TV Report,” offering insights into viewing habits, as well as the top-streamed and time-shifted programs, was released on Thursday. In general the research indicates that Television viewers prefer to watch sports events and animated cartoons in real time, while saving dramas and sci-fi shows for later. Not surprisingly, they also prefer shorter commercials and tend to hit the fast-forward button quite a bit. These were just a few of the findings. Here are some other highlights:

• Drama and science-fiction genres deliver the highest percentage of time-shifted viewing on prime-time cable and broadcast networks.
• Crime dramas ranked third in the prime-time genre, with 59 percent of crime dramas watched on a time-shifted basis.
• “Scorpion" and "How to Get Away with Murder" ranked as the hottest new programs on the TiVo Commitment Chart, which tracks the volume of Season Passes set for new programming.
• On average, TiVo subscribers pause their favorite shows 8.03 times, hit rewind 7.83 times and press the fast-forward button 25.11 times in one day.

TiVo said its viewing analysis was collected from an anonymous daily sample of 350,000 active TiVo DVRs. The streaming analysis is based on viewing data from the third quarter of 2014, collected from an anonymous sample of 25,000 households with the company’s streaming services. More: Advanced Television 12/19/14 - TiVo: Time-shift and binging proliferate and Investor.com 12/19/14 - Time-Shifted TV Viewing Now The Norm, Study Shows

OTT gains on traditional TV particularly among Millennials.

Late yesterday, measurement specialist comScore, issued a research paper titled "The U.S. Total Video Report" that looks at shifting TV viewing habits in the digital age. There's little doubt that American's viewing patterns are quickly changing, and our youth are leading the way.  The study – The U.S. Total Video Report, which tabulated results from 1,159 respondents in August – found that Millennials (adults 18 -34), watch original TV shows on digital platforms one-third of the time. ComScore notes that the older the viewer, the more likely to watch on a TV set. In other bad news for TV broadcasters, comScore found that 1 in 6 millennials hadn't watched an original series on a TV set in the past month. Instead, they're getting their video from set-top boxes such as Roku and Apple TV, and game consoles.

Unsurprisingly, Millennials are also more likely to be cord-nevers or cord-cutters and they are more likely to time-shift their viewing: 46 percent of them time-shift shows, while only 35 percent of those 35 to 54 do so.  Among other findings, consumers who subscribe to paid digital video services are more likely to binge-view TV shows over a monthly period – 87% vs. 69%. TV via the DVR (43%) is the preferred binge-viewing platform, followed by the TV via VOD (19%); Internet connected TV devices (12%); live TV – a category that includes reruns or marathons from MVPDs – (11%); tablets (4%), desktops/laptops (3%); and smartphones (2%).

While comScore's results are interesting, their methodology  and approach called Total Video to track unduplicated audience metrics across platforms has some flaws. ComScore surveyed 1,159 viewers with an online questionnaire, so those surveyed are all active internet users. The report is available for free download (registration required). MORE: TechCrunch 10/14/14 - Netflix Leads In U.S. Digital Video Subscriptions In Home And Among Millennials by Ingrid Lunden

Cloud based DVR's are on the Way

According to hothardward.com, Comcast is currently testing a cloud DVR service called X2 in the Boston market. Cloud base technology offers consumers the ability to watch whatever programming they record wherever and whenever they choose to view it. The current test only allows for tests on iPhones and iPads and at present it is unclear when other types of devices will be added. At CES earlier this month STB manufactures like Cisco, Alcatel Lucent, Simple.tv,Tivo and others proudly demo-ed their versions of this technology however none of them had a large scale test in place at the time. MORE: hothardware.com - 01/20/14 Comcast Testing Cloud DVR In Boston, Take Your TV Shows On The Road by Seth Colaner

The Fight to Win the SocialTV Battle

 Discussion/debate about Twitter and Facebook usage on the second screens while watching TV around the blogosphere has been at all time highs recently.  What seems somewhat clear is that socialTV is helping to push viewers back to live viewing in an age when DVRs and on-demand programming have pushed down ratings. "It's a great symbiotic relationship where we drive the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, and that viral conversation drives people back to watch our shows," said Viacom chief Philippe Dauman in an interview with Bloomberg. He offered up MTV's recent Video Music Awards as a prime example, a show that generated 18.5 million tweets (personally I thought that was do to Miley Cryus's foam finger and twerking but I'll give them that). The topic is getting even more hype do to the very open efforts by both Facebook's and Twitter as they clammer for the attention of TV networks and producers. At the end of September Facebook announced it would start sharing weekly data reports with ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS. The "big data" being shared includes the number of likes, comments and shares TV episodes get on the social network.

 

Yesterday the antisipated unveiling of Nielsen and Twitter first list of TV show rankings and ironically there was little connection between most watched shows and most talked about shows. Twitter reported Breaking Bad took the most tweets for the week of Sept. 23-29 while the top primetime show in total viewers was actually NBC's NFL Football: New England at Atlanta. The only show that did appear in both top ten lists for the week was The Voice, which ranked number two on Twitter's list and number eight and nine on the primetime rankings.

Initial analysis of TV activity shows that the entire Twitter TV audience for per episode is, on average, 50 times larger than the authors. If, for example, 2,000 people are tweeting about a program, 100,000 people are seeing those Tweets. Those 100,000 aren’t necessarily viewers of that particular TV episode. Nielsen notes that Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings are a separate set of metrics to traditional National TV Ratings. They do not change traditional National TV Ratings. But many believe they will complement each other.  To me this sounds like typical audience inflation many have debated with Nielsen data for years. The numbers are however one chooses to interpret them however the questions the advertisers need to ask is, are the RIGHT people seeing this stuff and are they buying anything?

TV Advertising Falling Short of Expectations

Are your clients complaining that their TV Advertising isn’t as effective as they once were? Well sixty-two percent of marketers say they believe that traditional TV has become a less effective ad medium over the past two years, according to a study by Forrester Research and the Association of National Advertisers. The study also found that about 50% of those surveyed are experimenting with new ad formats on platforms such as DVRs and VOD programs, while 87% see high value in branded entertainment. Link(s): MediaDailyNews, Feb 21, 2008 - TV Advertising Hit By Digital Competition and The Hollywood Reporter, Feb 21, 2008 – TV Ads Losing Steam, marketers say

DVR Playback makes Significant Increase to Viewing Levels

Playback from DVRs is increasing the amount of time people spend watching television, according to new data from The Nielsen Company. In comparing total television usage (Live viewing plus DVR playback) for persons 18-49 in 11/07 to total television usage in 11/05 (before Nielsen measured DVR homes and penetration was very low) Nielsen found that viewing had increased slightly throughout the day, and was 3% higher at 9:00 p.m. and 5% higher between 11:00 p.m.-midnight. Links: Investor's Business Daily, Feb 14, 2008 - Nielsen Reports DVR Playback is Adding to TV Viewing Levels and Nielsen - Press Release

DVR penetration to rise to 35% by 2012

Happy New Year readers! Online video may be a hot topic and increasing in popularity as are VOD services however DVR penetration in U.S. television households will continue to expand, nearly doubling over the next five years, according to a new report from market-analysis firm JupiterResearch. Read more in this article from ContentAgenda.com

DVR and Viewership

DVR penetration is still on the rise and while more and more viewers are recording programs, they're actually not delaying viewing for very long, according to a recent analysis conducted by Palisades MediaGroup. The study discovered that, on average, more than half of all DVR primetime program playback is done within the same day it was recorded. And by the end of the following day, DVR owners have completed approximately three-quarters of all program playback. "Nielsen estimates DVR penetration to be at 20%, up from 12% in January of this year. While this is a good-sized increase, the impact on viewership remains minor."



According to the study, ratings increase just over 15% due to DVR playback from live to live-plus-seven. The average rating against adults aged 18-49 was 2.5 for live viewing and 2.9 for live-plus-seven viewing; an increase of only 16.7%. While fast-forwarding through the ads is still an issue, not all people who use a DVR fast-forward. The data show that less than half of people who watch a recorded program fast-forward through the ads during playback. Equally significant, the top 10 most-DVR'd primetime shows among adults 18-49 experience as much as 58% of playback on the same day (CBS's Survivor: China) and as little as 27%.

20% of Homes now have a DVR

According to a new survey from Leichtman Research Group, more than 20% of homes now have a DVR, up from just 1 in 13 homes two years ago. Leichtman's survey also revealed that 53% of DVR owners reported owning an HDTV set. Link: MultiChannel News, Aug 22, 2007 - DVRs Nested In One-in-Five Homes, Survey Say

Commercial Ratings – Power in the DVR Viewers Hands

This month, Nielsen Media Research began measuring how TV viewing habits have changed and they released their report on “commercial ratings” this morning. Finding: More than half of digital video recorder (DVR) users fast-forwarded through commercials while watching prime-time network fare. With 17 percent of the nation’s TV viewers armed with DVRs, 10 percent of broadcasting primetime programming is now time-shifted. On a positive note, when you combine time-shifted numbers (out to three days) with live numbers, Nielsen said viewership of the typical prime-time show increases by 73 percent. 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(just halp of them), 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. I think it’s pretty obvious where this is going. Link(s): TVweek.com May 31, 2007, AP May 31, 2007 - More than half of DVR viewers skipping commercials, Nielsen says in first ad study

What DVR Users Are Really Doing

Nielsen told its national TV clients Thursday that there are significant differences in the way viewers use digital-video recorders, depending upon how soon after the original telecast they play back the recording and what genre of programming they are watching. It said that DVR playback that occurs closest to the original telecast retains more of the audience during commercials than DVR playback that occurs further out; and that certain genres, such as sports and news, have higher levels of live viewing, with DVR playback occurring closer to the original telecast than average. About 20% of households have some form of personal video device, Nielsen said. Link: MultiChannel News Feb 15, 2007 - What Nielsen Discovered About DVR Playback

Tivo Launches "Program Placement"

TiVo's newest initiative, called Program Placement, is giving marketers an option that might partly combat the ad-skipping function. The maker of the most-talked-about DVR will allow advertisers to run an ad on the screen just before viewers delete or save a program. Court TV, The Weather Channel and Burger King are among the first marketers to sign up for the new program which allows advertisers to choose types of programming to advertise across. Link: Washingtonpost.com - Nov 29, 06 – TiVo sets ads on Programs to be deleted

DVR Makes big Difference to "The Office" & "Earl"

In our busy household the DVR has been the best thing to come along in years. The DVR is typically scheduled to record most all of our favorite shows and we watch them when we can however this normally occurs with in a 72 hour period. Obviously many of you are in agreement because new Nielsen data reveals that 78% of viewers who watch recorded broadcast primetime shows play them back within two days, with 84% playing them back within three days. We’ve known for years that DVRs would fundamentally change how people watch TV, and now for the first time it’s beginning to reflect solidly in the ratings. That’s because the data also reveals that when delayed viewing is fully taken into account, ratings actually soar for some shows. Programs that are only modest performers on the nights they air are becoming big hits when that live viewing is supplemented by DVR viewing over the following week. The top ten impacted shows according to Nielsen are: “The Office”, “Earl”, “CSI”, “Ghost Whisperer”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Lost”, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”, “Friday Night Lights”, “Heroes”, “CSI: Miami” and “Survivor”. It’s still remains unclear how many viewers are watching recorded commercials however one thing is for sure, networks continuing to do business on a live-only basis are significantly distorting what true viewing is and are seriously short selling themselves. Link: MediaWeek, 11/09/06 - Nielsen: DVR Playback Viewing Occurs Within 3 Days of Air and Media Life, 11/09/06 - Just why the scuffleover DVR viewing

Are Five-Second Video Ads the Right Format?

Are five-second ads is coming into their own. Consumers with DVRs are used to zipping by a series of commercials in way less than 30 seconds. Research shows that DVR users usually fast-forward too far into the show they're watching. Then they have to rewind again, and usually scale it back just enough to see--you guessed it--the last five seconds of the last ad. So what are marketers doing? Placing a lengthy brand image at the end of their TV spot. Some networks are actually selling that last five seconds of a pod as an actual spot. On the Web, media companies are asking that we sit through one 30-second spot before viewing content. This is far too long according to Eric Picard, a senior product planner at MSN, he states that internal research shows that consumer tolerance for ads lasts between five and seven seconds. After that, tolerance turns to annoyance. Given that many broadband video clips last a short time, five-second ads are a good fit, and they don't exceed consumers' limit. What about longer-form streaming video? Well, even a series of five-second ads would be far more palatable (and lucrative) than fewer, longer sponsorship-type ad packages like those offered earlier by ABC. Link: ClickZ Network 08/28/06 – The Importance of the :05 Second Video Ad Past SMM Post: 04/25/06 – Five Second Video Ads

DVR Household and User Profile

According to the latest data from Mediamark Research, 8.6% of U.S. adults reported having a DVR in their household. That percentage rose to 11.2% of adult households in the Spring 2006 release. The spring data shows that more than a third of adults with DVRs have a college degree, 17.1% live in households where average income surpasses $150,000 and 15.7% live in homes worth more than $500,000, according to new data from Mediamark Research. The report also found adults with DVRs are 81% more likely to be heavy Internet users, but 23% less likely to be heavy TV viewers. In addition, new consumer research from Leichtman Research Group found that sixty percent of all digital cable subscribers have used VOD and about 12% of households in the United States now have a DVR, up from 3% just two years ago. Links: MediaPost – Research Brief 08/17/06 – Adults in DVR Households Read More, Surf More and Watch TV More also Leichtman Research Group 07/27/06 – DVR and VOD User and Usage Continue to Grow

MRI: DVR User's Watching Less

How has the DVR impacted your households’ television viewing habits? In mine, it has turned it on its head. The biggest surprise for me was seeing how quickly my 11 and 7 year old embraced the technology. Are we consuming more television because of it? I doubt it and new research has emerged that agrees with my feeling. A highly regarded media researcher's findings contradict the networks' insistence that DVR users watch more television. Although households with DVRs tend to watch fewer hours of TV than those without the devices, they also tend to be heavy users of the Internet and readers of magazines and newspapers, according to the spring 2006 report from Mediamark Research Inc. Links: MediaWeek 07/26/06 – MRI: DVR Owners Bulk up on Print, Web or Media Daily News 07/27/06 – New Data that suggests DVR users watch less, not more

TiVo's Interactive Ad Capabilities

Auto manufacturer, BMW, has become the first advertiser to use the TiVo DVR platform's interactive advertising capabilities in the context of a regular television program rather than a commercial or promotion. The company embedded interactive tags in the premiere of an episode of the SPEED Channel show, "Test Drive" (also appearing in re-runs), that featured BMW automobiles, and in promotional spots leading up to the episode: the tags allowed TiVo subscribers to press a button on their remote, in order to access more information, schedule a recording of the program, and view an exclusive video on BMW's M-series cars. TiVo and BMW have a long-standing relationship: the auto manufacturer has previously promoted its 5 Series and 3 Series automobiles through TiVo Showcases (note: TiVo Showcases are on-demand, long-format ads that are automatically downloaded to a special section of the TiVo box's hard drive).

TiVocast

If you had asked me 18 months ago about TiVo, I would have said that they would probably soon be out of business. That would have been very unfortunate because I was more than impressed with their product and the incredible brand recognition that they had created. Time has past and their management team has achieved a few wins. The business is on track and you have read here on numerous occasions about the new technologies and products that they have launched. Today is no different as TiVo is launching a new service that will let subscribers watch Web-based video on their TV sets. The content will come from a variety of new sources: NBA, NY Times, CNET, ivillage, Heavy and others. The new service is called TiVocast and it adds to the deal announced last month to provide web video from Brighcove clients. Most of the content is Ad-Supported and it is the latest attempt by the DVR pioneer to stand out amid an onslaught of generic DVRs offered by cable and some satellite providers. Link: WJS 06/07/06 – TiVo Will Offer Web Video Service to TV Subscribers

The opposite of Ad Skipping - Ad's On Demand

DVR vendor/service provider, TiVo, which helped popularize DVR technology among the general public, making it possible for TV viewers to skip commercials, thinks it has a new way to get customers to watch ads. TiVo is launching Product Watch, a VOD service that enables advertisers to reach TiVo subscribers who are actively looking for specific products through targeted video advertising content. The ads/shows will range in length from a minute to an hour and will from over 70 advertisers and around 100 major brands. Companies that have signed up for TiVo Product Watch at launch include General Motors, Sony Pictures, Lending Tree and Kraft Foods, each of which, TiVo says, will be the "premium" advertiser for its respective category. Link(s): Zatz Not Funny Blog – Tivo Launches Product Watch, CigaOM Blog – TiVo’s Adwords for Tivo, WSJ.com – Tivo Users can soon search for Ads