DVR penetration

DVR penetration in U.S. homes is slowing down, according to a new study. Leichtman Research Group says 47% of all TV homes have at least one digital video recorder — up from 40% three years ago and 23% six years ago.

DVR penetration in U.S. homes is slowing down, according to a new study. Leichtman Research Group says 47% of all TV homes have at least one digital video recorder — up from 40% three years ago and 23% six years ago.

Wasn’t one supposed to kill the other? Annual TV ad spending is closing in on the $80 million mark, while DVRs could soon be in 50% of U.S. homes by the start of the new TV season. Nielsen estimates 46% of homes have a DVR, marking a 9% increase over the prior TV season. Meanwhile, the research firm says the U.S. TV market generated $76.5 million in spending in 2012, a 6.5% increase.

Leichtman Research Group’s survey of 1,300 households found that 52% of the ones that have pay TV service also have a DVR. That translates to about 45% of all households and is up from 13.5% of all households surveyed five years ago by Nielsen.

It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your viewers are? If you’re a broadcast network, they’re likely firing up the DVR.

Over the last 60 years, televisions have evolved to have slimmer profiles, larger screens and sharper pictures. Additionally, the devices delivering the content to these new high-tech screens have changed significantly and more rapidly — helping us watch what we want when we want it. The percent of DVR usage has grown fivefold from a mere 1.6% in 2006 to almost 8% in 2011.

According to new consumer research from Leichtman Research Group, about 44% of American TV households now have at least one digital video recorder, up from 8% in 2005, and 62% digital cable subscribers now use video-on-demand at least monthly versus 52% a year ago. However, about 90% of all TV viewing in the U.S. is still via live TV, says the report.

As far as important industry milestones go, the one announced late Tuesday by Interpublic’s Magna Global unit, that DVRs are finally poised to reach the 50% mark — a level often thought of as critical mass for a mass medium like television — may seem a bit anticlimactic, and just goes to show that big industrial shifts sometimes are more evolutionary, than they are revolutionary.

Television time-shifted viewing is growing this season — for almost all shows. Horizon Media’s Brad Adgate says throughout the season so far there are 19 shows that witnessed 3 million or more viewers after seven days of time-shifted viewing. By comparison, in 2009, there were 11 shows and in 2008 there were only three.