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Research: DVR Time-Slip Threat Not As ‘Extreme’ As Predicted

According to early results from a new British study that observed users of digital video recorders (DVRs), TV viewers time-shift far less than they say they do and when they do skip through ads, they will often stop to watch appealing commercials, Media Life reports.

“The research suggests that the impact of DVRs on viewing of commercials may not be as extreme as some had previously thought,” said Mark Bunting, strategy manager at the British TV regulator Ofcom - which collaborated on the project with research group ACB, the London Business School, Initiative Media, and British broadcasters Channel 4, ITV and Five TV.

The research found that although most commercials in time-shifted viewing get fast-forwarded, viewers still watch them. “It is acting like a filter,” said Sue Moseley, managing director for Futures at Initiative, of the DVR.  “People chop out irrelevancy.”

In order to produce effective ads for broadcast TV, media experts agreed that marketers should adapt to the changing viewing habits of DVR user by creating ads that would appeal to time-slippers, enticing viewers to slow down to watch the commercial.