TV viewers watch about 15 to 20% of their prime time television via a DVR. Obviously this has been a major concern to marketers for the last couple of years, but there was a very interesting study released by Innerscope Research that might indicate some good news that was previously unanticipated.
“Our conclusion was that people don’t skip ads,” said Carl Marci, cofounder and CEO of Innerscope Research. “They’re just processing them differently.”
Innerscope indicates that viewers are fast forwarding commercials during their favorite TV shows in “hyper-alert state emotionally” meaning that the mild adrenaline of wanting to not skip past their show was allowing the process the visual data at an accelerated rate.
What does that mean in English? It means that people are able to absorb video scrolling past at even 3x or 6x speeds and still recall the information a day later. Viewers could still recognize and remember ads for major brands, but obviously not to the extent of ads at regular viewing speed.
As a side note viewers of the popular hit Heroes (which I love, but watch on Hulu) viewed the show at closer to 30% of the time on a DVR. Nerds of the world unite….
To read more visit this article from LiveScience:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20081002/sc_livescience/tvadsgrabattentioninfastforward
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:48 pm
It would be cool to produce a TV spot in super slow motion anticipating the fact that DVR users will fast forward it and make it appear as though it’s playing at normal speed. Basically, the exact opposite of TV spots like sublime (Sprite) where viewers need to use the pause button in order to see hidden frames that go by super fast.
Cooooool slooooow mooooootion videooooooo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XngQJzAmVm8
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Would be interesting to see the research data on a younger demographic – elementary school age to tweens. I think we absorb subconsciously because prior to DVR’s we were trained to watch commercials. I find that my 5 year old has ZERO tolerance for commercials, even if fast-forwarding through them. I think the impact of DVR on advertising will be obvious in a much more dramatic way as those who have never had to watch a commercial at all grow older and develop purchasing power. Will they even care enough to absorb the commercial at a higher rate, or will they completely tune out commercials even in ffwd mode because they have no patience for them?
October 6th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Its true, I usually pay close attention to the adverts as I fast forward through them and I slow down the player when I know its getting to the end of the adverts so that I don’t miss any of the show I want to watch. I don’t think marketers need to be particularly worried about losing viewings or broadcasters losing advertising cash. At the end of the day, if they sell the advert airtime for less then they’ll simply charge more for the “this program is sponsored by” adverts either side of programs since even if you fast forward, you nearly always watch them.
As a side note, I’d say that these sponsor adverts are actually of a higher level and are more interesting to watch than your bog standard advert. This could, of course, be very different on the American side of the pond though, where adverts are notoriously bad.