02
Nov 09Watching for the ads.
Apparently a lot of DVR users are willing to put up with ads:
Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer. According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching the commercials during playback, up slightly from last year. Why would people pass on the opportunity to skip through to the next chunk of program content?
The most basic reason, according to Brad Adgate, the senior vice president for research at Horizon Media, a media buying firm, is that the behavior that has underpinned television since its invention still persists to a larger degree than expected.
“It’s still a passive activity,” he said.
Maybe. I know I said I’d put up with longer commercial breaks if everything were available on demand, but it turns out I’m a lying bitch. I skip just about everything.
Also, no one watches commercials when they’re “watching commercials.” It’s time for a bathroom break, or to get another beer, or (for the nerdy among us) to check our RSS feeds. On the other hand, this is
In related news, The Office, Heroes and Fringe are doing well among the DVR set:
“House,” second among all shows in its live program rating (to “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC), became the top show in terms of commercials viewed within three days with a 5.68 rating (about 6.53 million), gaining almost 18 percent. NBC’s comedy “The Office” had one of the single biggest gains — 26 percent from its live program rating — to 3.92 (4.5 million) for its rating including playbacks. The supposedly struggling NBC drama “Heroes” jumped 22 percent, as did another apparently flagging drama, “Fringe” on Fox. And a new ABC drama, the appropriately named “Flash Forward,” looks even more like a hit than it did with its original rating because its rating increased 14 percent with playbacks.
I never watched Fringe, even though Lt. Daniels got a major role. Is it any good?
Tangential to all this, apparently DirecTV doesn’t believe that Christina Hendricks is worth seeing in HD. This is a grave injustice, and [Congress/the free market] should get involved immediately.