Despite an explosion in the number of digital video recorders (DVRs), TV advertisers do not necessarily need to fear their dollars are completely wasted by ad skippers.
Boston College researchers tracked DVR viewer eye movements while they fast-forwarded through ads. It turns out that brand information placed in the center of screens still created brand memory despite a 95% drop in frames viewed and complete loss of audio.
“Even in fast-forward, consumers can focus in on a product logo or brand and that fraction of a second can later influence their references,” said Boston College marketing professor S. Adam Brasel in a statement. “It’s not like the advertising disappears when you use TiVo.”
The conventional wisdom on DVRs has been that viewers either skip ads, which wastes the ad impression, or they choose to watch ads on purpose (many do). The third option appears to be scanning the ad, like one would do on a DVD.
There is no question that DVR adoption is on the rise. J.D. Power and Associates recently surveyed paid TV subscribers in the US and found that 44% of them had a DVR.
However, there is a limit to the number of consumers who will use DVRs. DVRs require premium TV service, and additional payment from subscribers. They are therefore unlikely to be taken up by all TV households.
Including all adults in the US (not just paid TV subscribers), the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that more than one-third of those surveyed had a DVR.
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