Fears that PVRs will transform the planning process have been confirmed by BSkyB’s admission that more than three-quarters of Sky Plus viewers skip through the adverts when watching recorded programmes.
BSkyB chief executive, James Murdoch, yesterday reaffirmed his commitment to the Sky Plus personal video recorder, claiming that it supplements core viewing and provides a platform for further developments.
He revealed to city analysts that a staggering 76% of viewers do not watch the commercial breaks when playing back recorded content, this compares to just 22% ad-avoidance for Sky’s basic satellite offering.
However, more than 60% of television watched by Sky Plus viewers is still live, with news, sport and documentaries the most likely to be viewed in real time. Recorded content accounts for around 38% of total viewing with dramas and movies attracting the most playback.
An ongoing study into the effect of PVRs carried out by PHD suggests that the ability to skip through commercial breaks will lead to a shift away from conventional airtime spots and a move towards sponsorship and advertiser enhanced programming.
However, recent surveys by InsightExpress and MediaPost have discovered that digital video recorder subscribers are providing a better audience for adverts than non-subscribers, since they merely forward through the adverts during a commercial break rather than actually switching channels.
Despite advertiser worries that greater DVR penetration will lead to fewer opportunities to get their messages across, it seems fast-forwarding is not necessarily a major problem, since InsightExpress discovered that viewers still “always” (15%) or “sometimes” (52%) notice the adverts.
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