Public Eye
February 16, 2007 9:57 AM

Failing To Fast Forward

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
In The News
(AP)
There is a lot of chatter this morning about the news that users of Digital Video Recorders like TiVo still watch TV ads. The assumption has always been that DVR users fast forward through advertisements, but Nielsen Company data suggests that, on average, viewers actually watch two-thirds of the ads. Why? "One big reason is that many people with DVRs still tune in to watch about half of their shows at the scheduled start time, meaning they must sit through commercials," according to the New York Times.

This news has serious implications for broadcasters, who have long feared a DVR-enabled populace that skips commercials. (Those fears are part of the reason that advertising has increasingly been integrated into the programming itself – those Coke glasses don't show up on "American Idol" by accident.) The new data means that broadcasters could start charging advertisers for commercials viewed by DVR-users, something they have not been able to do thus far. It might also keep broadcasters from abandoning the traditional advertising model, an outcome some have said was inevitable once DVRs reached critical mass.

There are reasons to be skeptical about this study, however. The first is simple common sense: Why would people with the option of skipping commercials not bother to do so? I understand that many people tune into shows at the time they air, but that seems like learned behavior that will fade as DVR use grows. In addition, the Neilson Company is not exactly an unbiased player in all this, since their revenue is tied to their ability to measure television audiences. If broadcasters fundamentally alter their business model because ads are going unwatched, the company could be left out in the cold.
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