Digital video recorder (DVR) pioneer and ad viewing data firm TiVo Inc. (TIVO) claims at least half of the viewing for network series premieres in October was on a time-shifted basis, with heavy commercial-skipping, according to its Stop||Watch ratings service.
Time-shifting refers to viewers watching TV shows and such after they air, in this case by using a DVR to record shows for non-appointment TV. TiVo’s Stop||Watch ratings service pulls viewer data from thousands of the millions of its DVRs in user homes.
The DVR vendor has evolved well beyond the box it invented in the late 1990s, expanding into user interface/search software deal with cablecos and also selling its valuable rating service data to broadcasters and other parties. More recently, TiVo teamed with Domino’s Pizza in something of a T-commerce deal that lets users order pizzas for pickup or delivery, using their remote and DVR. Earlier this month it announced plans to provide ad opportunities during paused, time-shifted TV viewing.
TiVo rating service is viewed by many as superior in the area of time-shifting viewing and advertising efficacy as its data is pulled directly from DVRs ― devices designed, in part, to enable viewers to skip ads. This key capability is not provided with live TV.
Ironically, TiVo has evolved from providing a device that the industry feared would kill ads to a company that provides advertisers solid ad-viewing data and ways to reach users when they don’t watch live TV.
Of the seven new broadcast series that debuted, six drew at least 50 percent of their audience on a time-shifted basis. In fact, TiVo adds, 52 percent of viewers who tuned in to the month's highest rated premiere, ABC's Life on Mars, chose to record the program and watch it later.
NBC's My Own Worst Enemy and CBS's Eleventh Hour had 54 percent and 51 percent of their viewers, respectively, tune in on a time-shifted basis. Time-shifted viewers also skipped commercials at high rates, noted TiVo.
Five of the seven premieres had at least 60 percent of their commercials fast-forwarded, according to the TiVo service. Viewers who time-shifted the Life on Mars premiere skipped 65 percent of the commercials that aired with the program.
“We would expect to see this level of time-shifting for an older show with an established fan base, and a new series premieres to get most of its viewing live,” said Todd Juenger, vice president and general manager of Audience Research & Measurement for TiVo, in prepared comments. “The fact that these new series got upwards of 50 percent of their viewing on a time-shifted basis indicates that viewers are growing accustomed to recording programs and watching when they want ― thereby increasing a program's total viewership.”
The dark side of viewer convenience for those pitching products is that time-shifting audiences also have the ability to skip commercials, which Juenger maintains “impacts the efficacy of the ads and the economics of the program, and can have long term effects on how networks evaluate their success going forward.”
