(13 November 2006 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Among television households with digital video recorders (DVRs) in the US, more than 78 per cent of all viewers who watch recorded broadcast primetime shows within a week play them back within two days. 84 per cent of them play them back within three days.

That is one of the findings from recent analysis of DVR playback viewing by Nielsen Media Research, for the week of 25 September.

TAmong viewers age 18-49, 76% played back broadcast network primetime programs within 48-hours. During the same time period, 84% watched primetime shows they recorded off advertiser-supported cable networks; and 85% viewed time-shifted syndicated shows within two days. By the third day, those percentages rose to 84% for primetime broadcast, 90% for primetime cable and 91% for total syndication.

Nielsen Media Research senior VP planning and analysis Pat McDonough says, "The TV landscape is changing rapidly, and as consumers increasingly decide for themselves when to watch their favorite shows, Nielsen will establish new means to track their behaviour.

"This latest analysis allows clients to better understand how DVR playback affects viewing over seven days. It will enable us to work with clients to determine the most appropriate way to incorporate this data into our measurements."

Nielsen says that viewers age 18-49 constitute the largest targeted buying group within the television industry. Other key findings with respect to DVR playback of primetime programming among persons 18-49 reveal that:

Among all households age 18-49, 2.6 per cent of viewing time is DVR playback, but among households with DVRs, 22.9 per cent of all primetime minutes viewed are via DVR playback.

Among total minutes of primetime programming viewed by households with DVRs within seven days, the percentage that is played back from DVR is:
Broadcast Networks: 41.1 per cent
Ad-Supported cable: 17.9 per cent
Syndication: 14.1 per cent