NDS released a multi country study into the use of Digital Video Recorders and launched it with the claim that 7 out of 10 people interviewed felt they could not live without a DVR now they are used to one.
In total 1,000 DVR users were interviewed in America, the UK, Australia and Italy, which just so happens to be the markets that the NDS ex-parent News Corp is strong in.
The survey showed a number of things, namely that the only household appliances which are more highly valued than the DVR are the washing machine and the Microwave and the only technology gadget individuals rank higher is their mobile phone.
Not too surprisingly over 60% of DVR owners with a partner felt that having a DVR had improved their relationship. It’s fairly obvious that men can now watch their favorite sport at a convenient time of the day, when their partner is also busy, and partners can go to bed at the same time, not staying up to watch programs they daren’t miss.
In the US, UK and Australia, respondents attributed this improvement to having the ability to watch their own programs while sharing their favorites with each other. Surveyed Italians feel that their improved relationship happiness was due to the DVR allowing them to plan their evening’s viewing better.
The survey was commissioned to celebrate the 13 millionth DVR device which has been installed to an NDS design. TiVo was of course the originator of most of the concepts in a DVR, along with the now defunct Replay TV. TiVo got its big break when DirecTV, subsequently controlled by News Corp, began to offer its DVR to customers, subsidized.
News Corp then commissioned NDS to design its own device, which now dominates all the News Corp pay TV services around the world. News Corp remains the NDS parent but is in the process of selling off a majority to Private Equity Group Permira.
The interesting question is just who is this addiction to DVRs good for? Sure the DTH companies can retain and acquire customers by offering DVRs, but not once cable operators offer them as well, which increasingly they do. It’s bad for advertisers, bad for channel owners, but good for consumers. Presumably it increases ARPU and reduces churn, though it does not have that affect universally, as Dish Networks offers a DVR, but has suddenly seen churn rise.
Other key findings in the survey included the fact that DVR owners watch more TV (but not more adverts) at four hours a day, it improves the enjoyment of TV, the device is thought of as easy to operate, and it leads to watching more interesting programs.