ReplayTVBlog

According to a report issued at a press conference held by the major TV networks, 90 Percent of all DVR owners fast forward through most of the commercials in any recorded TV shows they watch. This seems like common sense, but if you dig a little deeper it gets more interesting. Of the 90 percent who skip commercials, 58 percent watch the commercials as they fast forward through them and 53 percent actually rewind back and watch the commercials that caught their eye.

There are a couple of lessons for the Networks to learn from this report:

1. Just because DVR users are fast forwarding through the commercials doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention to them. When I’m fast forwarding through commercials, I know I’m still watching the commercials. While I won’t see every second of every commercial, I do catch visual bits and pieces of all the commercials. And very often, I still get the whole gist of the commercial.
2. Made good commercials and people will watch them. When I’m watching commercials while fast forwarding, if I catch a glimpse of a Capital One commercial with David Spade and his pudgy, screaming sidekick, I’ll rewind back to watch the commercial! Call me crazy, but I find those commercials funny. And if I even happen to catch a glimpse of a chimpanzee in a commercial, I’m hitting the rewind button faster than you can say Curious George — I have a thing for primates.

I do have one question about this report. Who are the 10 percent of people who own a DVR and are not fast forwarding through commercials? I think they must be people like my parents. They have had a DVR now for almost a year and they still can’t grasp the concept of pausing live TV!

I think I’m beginning to understand why there isn’t a DVR in every home …

Technorati Tags: DVR, Capital One, Chimpanzees, TV

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