NBC: DVRs Don't Kill Commercials, People Do

by Wayne Friedman

Mar 17, 2006 - Media Daily News

ON the set of "Las Vegas," NBC told advertisers it was rolling the dice, green-lighting two dramas for fall, and directing them to place bets on some surprising DVR research data concerning their commercials.

Seemingly defying current conventional wisdom, Alan Wurtzel, president of NBC Universal Television Research and Media Development, said the problems with commercial avoidance were worse in non-DVR homes than in DVR homes. For some time, advertisers have been concerned that DVR users who fast-forward through commercials will become a major problem for advertisers' media plans in the future.

Wurtzel said the loss in commercial effectiveness was currently just under 7 percent in non-DVR homes, as compared to about 3 percent in DVR homes. The explanation focuses on old technology--regular TV remote devices. Television viewers have used TV remotes for years to avoid commercials--changing channels, muting, etc.--and TV remotes are in many more homes than DVR machines.

While DVRs are used to skip commercials, Wurtzel says they should be put into perspective. DVRs--now in 8 percent of all U.S. TV households--would need to get to 35 percent U.S. penetration, expected by the 2009-2010 season, before they cause a 10 percent drop in commercial effectiveness. Wurtzel also repeated the positive for DVRs--also a positive for advertisers--that viewers watch more TV because of these devices.