Is Your DVR Killing Advertising?

I fast forward through the ads generally but occasionally there are some funny looking ones and I will stop and rewind to watch them. This doesn't happen often though, maybe every 1 in 100 shows.

Does this really matter though? I mean I know in my household we always changed the channel when add's came on or got up and did something else. I don't recall ever watching ads except during the Superbowl and I can't recall watching a live TV show recently. I watch everything off the DVR.

I am also watching a lot more DVD's or Streaming Video such as this weekend I watched quite a few episodes of 30 Rock and fell in love. What a fantastic show. Makes me wonder, yet again, what I'm missing by not watching more TV.

I am similar to Karma - I fast-forward through most ads, but if something looks interesting or funny in the fast-forward, I will rewind it and check it out. I was trying to think of the last time that I did this, but nothing is coming to mind at the moment.

Like Karma and idegress above, I fast forward but go back if something looks funny. Most recently I did this over and over with an Arby's commercial featuring Riverdancing chimps... I even called my boyfriend in to watch a few times.

So I guess I don't really have a point other than if you want to sell me something you should include dancing animals.

Dude, commercials suck. My parents always either muted commercials or changed the channel, and so I was raised with a distinct distaste for watching most commercials. Not much made my parents angrier than an unmuted commercial. I rarely watch TV when it airs, and I don't have TIVO, but I download TONS of shows from iTunes or stream them online. The main draw for me is not having to watch commercials (or at least not as many commercials). I don't mind product placement so much, I notice a lot of it but it isn't as obnoxious or in-your-face as a stream of overly-loud commercials cutting into my shows. And yes - some commercials are hilarious and memorable. But as a general rule I don't watch commercials. If I am actually watching a show when it airs, I always mute the commercials or change the channel. I catch enough out in public or over at someone else's house (not to mention all the print ads, internet popups, spam, radio ads, and billboards) to know that I'm not missing much.

And I do realize that ad money keeps my shows on the air, so I am an ungrateful hypocrite of sorts. I'll tell you what would be cooler. If instead of advertising lots of different products during shows, companies could do a "brought to you, with limited commercial interruptions, by ____________", and instead of all the commercial breaks have a short plug or two for that one product. I have seen that model a few times before, and appreciated it! Not perfect, but an improvement. There should really be a major re-evaluation/overhaul of how TV should work within the next 5 years, to take into account changing technologies, internet integration, and viewership habits.

I never, ever, ever watch commercials while using my Tivo. This includes the annoying 30-second embedded commercials within the CBC broadcasts of Hockey Night in Canada when the Flyers happen to be playing. I also don't start watching 1 PM EDT football games until about 2:30 so I can watch whole games with no commercials or blathering halftimes and then still have slack time on the 4:00 games so I don't have to watch commercials or THOSE blathering halftimes, either. Needless to say, I don't watch commercials during the regular programming I watch, either.

Everytime I read an article on this subject, the following dichotomy is presented: (1) If people have Tivos, they will skip the ads but (2) if they don't have Tivos, they will watch every full ad break attentively with perfect recall of the advertiser's desired marketing messages and purchase goods and services appropriately.

Ad breaks have always been bathroom breaks in my house.

I watch the screen during commercials so I know when to press play again so that means I do see some of the commercials. Occasionally my wife makes me stop and watch a commercial that looks interesting. I also watch my own company's commercials to see if they are any good. Other than that...no commercials for my household during TV shows. Sports are a different matter because we are generally watching live, however, commercials are generally set aside for bathroom breaks, talking, and food.

I usually find myself watching the very first ad in a commercial break, only because I sometimes forget about the fast-forward button. And every now and then I stop for Tina Fey's American Express commercial, and that's only because it's hilarious and I keep expecting Tracy Jordan to pop up and yell "Liz Lemon!" Oh, and if a film trailer catches me while I'm zipping through commercials, I'll go back.

@James - I asked this in the other thread, but any word on FNL ratings? In particular, how they're improving when DVR watching is included in the numbers? I read that they improved 600k on their season 1 finale, and tied Moonlight (seriously?) in the target demographics.

And all that after the Season 2 premiere was online for weeks in advance...looking good for FNL's survival?

(P.S. Have you seen any of the upcoming FNL episodes? I don't want any spoilers, but it would be nice to know if the Tyra-Landry thing is advanced plausibly, and whether other storylines pick up FNL's excellence as they always have)

I'm with Simon. The mainstreaming of Tivos and DVR technology doesn't represent the first shot fired across the bow of televised advertising -- it's just the first shot with the silencer removed from the gun. (You can use that, by the way, James.) Advertisers should be thrilled to finally be able to know just how ineffective the archaic programming-interruption model truly was. Embedded ads, product placements and sponsorships will quickly become commonplace, and the hole will be plugged.

We have three DVRs in our house which means we can tape 6 shows at once while watching 3 already taped. (Very large flat screen in livingroom, 40 inch in bedroom, and 32 inch in studio.) {A little overkill, perhaps???} And there are only two of us! So, no, we never watch commercials. I've been told we've missed some funny ones, but cannot bring myself to care much.

I guess someone in advertising should respond, so it may as well be me. First, I've spent over 35 years in the business (as a writer, mostly of TV commercials) constantly hearing people claim that they never, ever watch commercials. Then I go to work the next day and see the research showing how, when our commercials are on the air, sales go up, and when we go on hiatus, sales drop off. I've also had clients who wanted a phone number at the end of their TV spots, and their internal studies show calls spiking right after their commercials have run. Are all commercials effective? Of course not. Most are dreck. But do you really think corporate America would continue investing billions of dollars a year in TV advertising if they weren't seeing a return on their investment? As for Tivo and other DVRs, sure they're a problem. And they do make it easier for people to skip our spots. And as the penetration of these machines grows, so will the problem. But right now, most of you who claim never to watch TV spots are either exaggerating or in the minority. OK--flame away.

It depends on what and when I'm watching. If I'm sitting down watching something, I FF (Tivo) through the commercials unless something interesting catches my eye: Tina Fey's Amex commercial, an FNL promo, whatever. If I'm watching while I'm cooking, it depends on how messy my hands are and how close the remote is. I'm sure that Brian is correct and we are watching more ads than we think, As long as I can choose what I want to see and zap most the rest, if I end up sitting through a few, eh, no big deal.

We don't watch the commercials in our house. Sometimes I will rewind to watch a commercial that's a movie preview. That's about it. Before I had DVR, during commercials I would change the channel or get up and go do something else. Have never been a commercial watcher.

1) Have we finally seen the end of the "quickest cancellation" contest? If Nielsen takes three weeks to get +3 day numbers, then it seems unlikely we'll see quite as many Week 2 and Week 3 cancellations.

2) On the other hand, why on earth does it take Nielsen that long to get those numbers? Do the Tivos only phone home to the mothership every week, or what?

3) Do the Tivo numbers get factored into the statistical modeling of the Nielsen monitors/diary crowd? Or are they completely independent, for now?

4) Are we actually going to see an increase in the lifespan of non-rookie programming as a result? The average lifespan of a scripted show seems to be going steadily downward, but if those Season Passes rarely get dropped and people watch those shows out of sheer inertia, will shows get a extra season or two just out of habit (i.e. those viewers may not plan their lives around aging shows, but they'll watch them when they show up on the Tivo).

5) Will rookie programs see a corresponding decrease? Very few people make Season Passes for new shows sight unseen; historically, they watch an episode or three and then create the Season Pass. So if a portion of new show pickup is based on people flipping through the channels and stopping on something that gets their attention, will that go down as people are too busy watching their Tivoed programs to go channel surfing? Could a network with few new shows attempt to smother their rivals' rookies by starting their season of returning shows one week early in the hopes that people watching Tivoed material won't have time to watch the rookies? Or would that risk poisoning the well on the entire rookie class, their shows included?

5b) Will we start seeing a trend where rookie shows start showing a noticeable uptick around week 3 or 4, as people rely more and more on watercooler talk to look into new shows (as they were too busy watching Tivoed material before then). Will this also affect the (delay of) early cancellation rates?

6) Tivos have an enormously detrimental effect on commercials, do not kid yourselves. I can't tell you how often, in dealing with my long-term Tivoed comrades (3+ years), I've asked if they want to see movie X and they have literally no awareness of it (with similar non-awareness of consumer items, etc.). Between Tivos, satellite radio/mp3 players, and ad-blocking browser plugins, the only forms of advertisement they even consciously see/hear are those that they physically cannot escape from (preceeding movies, in subway cars, etc.) - even billboards are ineffectual, as you drive past them quickly enough.

I pretty much never watch live tv anymore: I can't handle the comercials at all. I almost always end up pausing the show I'm watching live and getting up and doing something for the half hour it'd take to be able to FF the live show's comercials.

I do pause when I see a comerical for a film I want to watch or something so I can catch the trailer. But that's pretty much it. Usually I just go online and look at trailers now.

Maybe I am weird, but I like commercials.

I enjoy many of the advertisements that I see on TV. These ads get me interested about products and services that I may not get exposure to from shopping or viewing other sources of media. I think that ads give TV shows character.

Advertisements establish periods where a break in the show needs to be. I like when a dramatic scene comes on and then a commercial break comes in. TV feels unflattering and scary without ads. The ads I see connect me to the outside world. I am used to seeing ads and taking them away robs me of a total and comprehensive viewing experience.

I think the most effective marketing has been with AMC's Mad Men. During their first viewing of the show on the network they display a piece of trivia between the commericals, usually about the product about to be advertised. Even though I still try to skip through commercials, I find myself only fast forwarding X2 so I can catch the trivia. I constantly yell 'they've tricked me into watching ads' when I watch the show. I have a theory that that's how AMC convinced people to buy ads for the show.

I'm reminded of last week's Mad Men discussion between Peggy and her date with him not claiming to not be affected by advertising and her saying that when it's good you don't think you are.

I don't have a DVR, but I do tape shows liberally. I do sometimes watch the first commercial because of a delay in realizing I should fast forward. I've seen my mother forget to fast forward many times.

When watching live, I don't pay much attention to ads. I definitely do pay more attention to commercials when watching live than when I can fast-forward, but when watching live, I either do something else (bathroom or food break, go on the computer, etc.) or zone out and don't focus as much as when the show is on.

Actually, the commercials I pay attention to the least are the ones on the network websites on their full episode video. The sound on those commercials when I first started watching online were so much louder then the show that I just muted the sound when the commercial came on; now it's a habit, so I don't even know if the relative sound is still true.

The funny thing is that when I first started watching TV on DVD, I was disturbed by the lack of commercials because the show seemed written to commercial breaks and I needed some time before going back to the next act, even if it was to fast forward through the commercials.

I'll deliberately watch commercials that catch my attention, like Tina Fey's AmEx, or a teaser for an upcoming episode of The Office. But since I tend to multi-task while watching TV - getting online, folding and ironing laundry - I am sometimes distracted and forget to fast forward through commercials that I otherwise would. And I won't even pretend to be immune to them. (I'm particularly prone to food cravings caused by restaurant commercials.)

In the past, I taped all my shows with a VCR so I could zip through the ads. Twenty years later, I have DVR.
Long story short, I haven't voluntarily sat through commercials for decades.
What am I missing? Caveman graduating from commercials to a network program? Woo-hoo.

And on a sidebar, I may stop going to the movie theaters if they continue showing commercials.

"The funny thing is that when I first started watching TV on DVD, I was disturbed by the lack of commercials because the show seemed written to commercial breaks and I needed some time before going back to the next act, even if it was to fast forward through the commercials."

YES! TV without commercials is strange.

Commercials are similar to spam and telemarketing, only a bit more effective. For every 10 people who actively avoid watching commercials, there is one who does. As long as that 10% or even 1% watch commercials, and 1% of those go out and buy that product or service, it is worth it for the companies. You'd better believe that corporations have the numbers to back up the dollars spent on advertising. It's hard to believe until you, say, live with a roommate who gets sucked into HSN and actually BUYS stuff off it or you witness first-hand a senior citizen get sucked in by a telemarketer. These people do exist! If the 0.0002% of spam recipients that reply are enough to keep that flood coming, you'd better believe that the 10% that watch commercials are worth it too.

I watch the few ads that catch my eye (interest) such as movie trailers, quirky shorts, etc. Most ads go by in a blur however. Long live the DVR!

If we have 20% penetration for DVRs now and that percentage is expected to grow quickly, then the Networks should be petrified. Anybody who uses a DVR is not watching most ads (Not even subliminally). You have got to believe that the people who work for advertisers and networks know this because they probably use a DVR in their home.

Advertisers get little to no value from recorded ads and have rightly refused to pay for those eyeballs. At what point do the funds stop flowing from advertisers - 40% DVR penetration, 60% penetration? Why should networks continue to broadcast TV content once their advertisers have left them?

The legacy TV distribution model is ready to fail, it just depends on how quickly "the rest of us" adopt DVR technology. We may living in the DVR glory days - with far greater content controls and costs yet to come.