Recently came across multiple articles stating that more people seem content to sit through the commercials than networks once thought. In fact nearly half of all people watching delayed shows on a DVR are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer.
Here is an overview of the NPR story:
- 46 percent of 18-to-49 who watch the major networks on a DVR actually do watch the commercials.
- Commercials are slightly better than they used to be, and they're trying to make them more entertaining.
- Today we have four different kinds of TV ratings
- Live program rating - That’s what you always had
- Live-plus-same-day rating - So that means if you DVR’d the show, the 8 o'clock show, and you watched it at 10 o'clock, that’s the live-plus-same-day
- Live-plus-seven-days rating - Wached before the next episode of the show comes on the following week, how many people watched.
- Commercial-plus-three rating - Does not measure the program at all. It only measures the commercials in the program. Over a three-day period, from the time it was first on to three days later, how many people watched the commercials? And that’s the key part of the business, because that’s what all the advertising rates are now based on.
- Most shows have seen a bump in the commercial-plus-three rating. Their rating has gone up about 10 percent, even though only 46 percent are watching the commercial.
Sources:
NPR (On The Media) - TV's Unlikely Ally
New York Times - DVR, Once TV’s Mortal Foe, Helps Ratings
