PVRs May Cost Hollywood $600 Million in 2007
According to AdAge, PVRs may cost TV networks about $600 million in 2007 (registration required).
$600 million may seem like a drop in the bucket right now, but advertisers and the TV networks are battling it out over ad dollars. Advertisers are frustrated because their ads are increasingly being skipped and going unwatched. At the same time, Hollywood is trying to increase their advertising income despite a growing number of users that don’t watch commercials.
Networks want to count PVR viewers that watch shows after they air live. Advertisers don’t. Here’s more from the ARS Tecnica article:
The estimate of $600 million lost to miscounted DVR users is a 100 percent increase from the year previous, and there are no signs that DVR usage is going to plateau. According to one report, “Digital Video Recorders: Demand Surges As Mass Market Era Dawns” put out by Strategy Analytics, DVR usage in the US will almost quadruple by 2010 to include roughly half of all homes in the United States. $600 million is nothing to sneeze at, but this number could skyrocket into the billions of dollars in a few short years.
March 7th, 2007 at 9:07 am
[...] From the first moment it was introduced, TiVo has been feared by the ad guys. For consumers it’s dramatically improves the television experience, but for content owners TiVo and other DVRs have created new challenges for them to address. For decades, Hollywood has made a killing by selling 30 second spots, but as we move to an on demand society, this new paradigm has shifted the balance of power to the consumer and has forced mainstream media to think ahead. Those who can make this adjustment will be me with success, but the advertisers and content owners who refuse to change will be left behind. [...]