DVR penetration reaches 25% in US

July 17, 2008 - Penetration of digital video recorders (DVRs) in the US has risen 5% in the past nine months to reach 25%, according to new figures from research firm Nielsen, as pay-TV operators "aggressively" try to drive uptake of the devices.

The research found that there are an estimated 28mn households in the US with DVRs, of which around 30% have them connected to more than one television.  Of these homes with DVRs, 53% are cable subscribers and 40% receive satellite services, while more than 65% of all US homes receive a cable or satellite TV service.

“Commercial television is alive and well – growing 1% year over year – despite the rapid adoption of other platforms,” said John Burbank, Chief Marketing Officer for Nielsen.  “Moreover, timeshifting represents less than 5% of total viewing.”

Furthermore, around 270mn Americans currently have Internet access at home and/or work, and there were 119mn unique US viewers of 7.5bn online video streams in May of this year.