Four in five TiVo and DVR owners skipping ads

December 11, 2007 – A new survey by ABI Research has found that nearly four in five TiVo owners and 82% of owners of digital video recorders (DVRs) supplied by a video service provider skip all or most advertisements.

The survey also found that both TiVo and DVR owners are likely to record “significant” amounts of TV per day, with nearly half of TiVo owners reporting that they record two or more hours per day, compared to 43% for owners of DVRs supplied by video service providers.

“The market for DVRs is fairly mature,” said Michael Wolf, Research Director for ABI Research.  “While just a few years ago many consumers still did not have a firm grasp of the benefit DVRs would bring them, today the concept of DVR and time-shifting is fairly well understood.  That being said, adoption levels are still fairly dependent on service provider rollouts, and whether consumers are interested in paying additional fees for the benefits of a DVR.

“Our research has found that behaviour in usage of DVRs is similar regardless of who provides it, or the demographic profile of the user.  While there are slight variations in usage based on age and income, once you put the technology in their hands the vast majority of consumers show similar behaviour.”