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Does a DVR Boost Viewing Hours or Not?

Everyone that is thinking of getting a TiVo or another DVR device often asks me if I watch more or less TV in the end. I've never had a good answer: at first I watched much less TV since I was only catching the 2 or 3 shows I really liked, but after a few years I ended up with 50+ season passes to stuff I loved and I probably watch more than I did pre-TiVo.

The New York Times has a tidbit on recent research that showed the heaviest watchers of TV tended to not have a DVR. The article mentions the findings conflict with a small test CBS did last year that showed DVR owners watched more TV.

If you check out Mediamark Research's press release on the study, you'll see that they focused on broader demographics type stuff and "23% less likely to be heavy TV viewers" is mentioned near the end.

I think I'd agree with the CBS executives on this one. The wording of the study findings sounds suspect. They are only looking at the top 20% of TV viewers, people watching 44.5 hours or more of TV in a week. That's more than an 8 hour-a-day job and definitely someone outside the norms of TV watching. I would be much more interested in the other 80%, the people that have normal lives and watch 15-20 hours of TV a week. Even if there was no significant difference between DVR owners and non-owners at that level of weekly TV viewing, it'd still be noteworthy considering they interviewed 26,000 people for the study.

It sounds weird to make a blanket statement like DVR owners watch less TV when you're only comparing people at the edge of the bell curve.

by Matt Haughey July 30, 2006 in News

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