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Magna: DVR Add-On, Not Replacement for TV

Consumers are purchasing digital video recorder services at a slower rate, which may indicate that the devices don’t have as broad an appeal to the masses as originally predicted, AdAge reports. According to a new study from Magna Global, new DVR subscribers in the second quarter were around 965,000, down from 1.15 million in the previous quarter and 1.32 million in the quarter before that. The decline of growth, according to Brian Weiser, director of industry analysis at Magna, could mean that DVR’s appeal mainly to higher-end subscribers.

By the end of the decade, about 33 million homes will have a DVR, which is a 30 percent penetration rate, but at that point new gains will be difficult to achieve, an article in MediaPost points out, and penetration will look more like pay TV than anything else.

 

Since pay TV’s inception, HBO and other channels have had difficulty climbing over the 30 percent penetration barrier. That’s because of churn, as customers drop or add the service on a month-to-month basis. “DVR is going to be an add-on to the TV experience rather than a substitute for it,” Weiser said.