I love to use my DVR to fast-forward through commercials. In a one-hour show, I can knock out generally just under 20 minutes of advertisements. That means DVR makes TV watching around 30% more efficient. I can then use the saved time to do something useful or entertaining. According to a New York Times article today, not everyone has the same attitude as I do when it comes to skipping commercials. In fact, nearly half of DVR users let the advertisements play. While I found this shocking at first, I shouldn't have.
The Times says:
Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer. According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching the commercials during playback, up slightly from last year. Why would people pass on the opportunity to skip through to the next chunk of program content?
The most basic reason, according to Brad Adgate, the senior vice president for research at Horizon Media, a media buying firm, is that the behavior that has underpinned television since its invention still persists to a larger degree than expected.
"It's still a passive activity," he said.
In other words, that 46% of people don't want to be bothered to hit the fast-forward button on the remote, because they're too busy vegging out in front of the TV. When you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. As Adgate (which, by the way, is an amazing name for a media buying firm executive) reminds us, TV isn't an active sport. Many people consider relaxation a key part of television. So quickly hitting the fast-forward button when commercials begin to minimize the time spent watching isn't in the equation. Even though I don't relate, I can understand that.
Yet, these days, some more active shows are wildly popular. For example, reality shows like American Idol involve viewer participation by voting for contestants. Yet, active reality shows like this are the least likely to be watched on DVR, because they're treated much like sporting events -- watching live matters to people. So the shows that people watch most passively are also the most likely to viewed later on DVR.
There's little doubt that TV executives are thrilled with this news from Nielsen. In a sense, many people's laziness outweighs their hatred for ads. At first glance, this doesn't appear to be particularly good news for internet advertising: most banner ads urge users to click on them -- which requires an active behavior.
Yet, it may depend on the kind of Internet user -- passive or active. Internet use is more active than TV, so banner ads might work for some people after all. But other users are more passive. For them, online video ads might work better. With most such advertisements, you can click on an "x" somewhere to turn them off. But maybe if so many people are passive about TV ads, the same behavior will apply to ads that interrupt internet surfing. Through this logic, a mix of internet ad type might be the best approach.
But does passivity beget passivity, i.e. lazy people are just plain lazy, or does that percentage of people just really like ads. I would liek to see data on which ads are consistently getting fast-forwarded through. The makeup of advertising varies widely between networks/cable and program types.
As for me, I abhor commercials of all types and at all times to the point where (content editing aside) I never watch movies with ads. Sporting events are by far the worst offenders, and if I can get through a football game in roughly 90 minutes, nothing will change my behavior. Sometimes I will record a live program and start watching it 5-10 minutes later just so I can zip through commercials 'in real time'.
In a surprising number of homes, the TV is just on all the time. That is why you see these unbelievable statistics about the number of hours Americans spend watching television. The reason for these numbers is that people are not really watching, or are not giving the TV their full attention. The TV is just always on, the way it is in a bar or an airport lounge or more and more public places. So if people are not really paying attention much of the time, it is not surprising that people are not bothering to fast forward through the commercials.
I agree with Joe. I often have the television on while I'm doing household chores. I will still choose a show from the DVR menu because I do listen on and off. Rarely, however, do I stop the dishes or put down the Windex in order to fast forward through the commercials.
TV may be passive, but that does not imply that the watcher or listener must also be passive.
People might use the commercial breaks as an opportunity to multitask, too: Bathroom trip, get a beer (i.e., preface to a later bathroom trip ;), answer your kid's question, check messages, etc. A commercial break turns out to be a pretty good amount of time in which to do small tasks that one often wants to do even when watching a show without interrupting the action.
I fast forward through commercials but have been known to rewind for a commercial I like (a new Mac vs. PC commercial, for instance). If Nielsen can figure out how to track ratings on a particular commercial, maybe advertisers would give us something worth watching.