Mediaweek: women & DVRs

This Mediaweek article covering a survery of DVR users by Lifetime caught my eye.

In a national survey of 1,000 DVR users divided equally by sex, 48 percent of married women say the decision to purchase a DVR was their own, while 55 percent of the wives claim they understood how to interface with their unit's myriad features better than their husbands.

The study, which was commissioned by Lifetime, offered "dramatic and counterintuitive results," said Tim Brooks, the network's senior vp of research. Of key interest to advertisers is the discovery that women are more likely to stop fast forwarding through commercials if a brand or product captures their attention.

While 99 percent of women say they use their DVRs to zap through commercial spots, 76 percent reported that they stopped for ads that are entertaining or relevant to their own interests. Women are also more likely to pause for TV and movie promos.

It is interesting to think how men & women use technologies differently, and how we may have mistaken assumptions regarding our usage of technology. 

Lifetime Study: Women Rule DVR Domain

Comments

[whiteshaft]

I don't know what it is about the TiVo, but after I taught my wife (an admitted technophobe) how to use it the machine has become HERS. Not only does she have a higher percentage of shows in the To-Do List, she's very adept at programming it. I watch in awe as she burns through the menus like a pro, her thumb a blur on the remote. She HATES ads, will only stop for the occasional show promo that was cut off at the end of a recording. I know she'll hate the new ad widget when it pops up...

[Susan Carley Oliver]

I'm another anecdotal hit - my fiance was perfectly happy without the Tivo, while I find it has become a Lifehacker-ish necessity in my TV viewing. I'm definitely the power user in the family. As far as commercials are concerned, I'll only view them if they look interesting in the second or so they're visible while I'm 30-second-skipping.