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| Home > TiVo-TRA > The Power of the DVR Habit - Greg DePalma-TiVo | |||||
The Power of the DVR Habit - Greg DePalma-TiVo
Last Updated: June 6, 2012 at 10:53 PM GMT By Greg DePalma I just finished reading The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg. This fascinating and insightful book highlights several case studies from companies such as Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, and Target to Olympic medalists and NFL athletes. Mr. Duhigg describes how bad habits were broken by replacing them with healthier options, and thereby creating new habits for consumers. Febreze® is one such success story. Who drank coffee at 3pm ten years ago? Not many. Who needs a coffee break at 3pm today? Millions. Because coffee breaks during the afternoon are now habit and people like their routines. Working in the TV industry for twenty years, I have witnessed a lot of change in consumer habits. When I began my career, three broadcast networks dominated the landscape. I watched WNBC news at 11pm every night not because it was my favorite broadcast, but because I watched the lead-in programming (The Cosby Show, Cheers, Friends, and Seinfeld). NBC was a habit for me. Back then, if you asked viewers to name the shows they watched and which networks aired them, they most likely knew the answer to both. Today, people know their favorite shows, but more often than not, don't remember – or never knew - which networks air them. Why? One big reason, the DVR. Younger people have adopted the DVR a lot faster than the baby boomers. A perfect example is the CW network, which has 44% less live viewing during primetime than CBS. CBS skews toward an older viewer (with programs like 60 Minutes), who tends to watch more shows live – all because of habit. My father records PGA Tour golf events and when he plays them from his recorded list he sits through the commercials without fast-forwarding. Is he lazy? Charles Duhigg might argue his behavior is related to habit. In contrast, the younger viewer watching Gossip Girl on the CW is in the habit of recording his/her favorite TV show and speeding through the commercials. This is the same reason why Pepsi and Coca-Cola target 12-24 year olds. Research shows that most people decide on a favorite soft drink by the age of 24, and 90% stay with that brand for the rest of their lives. It is also why most marketers care about 18-49 and 25-54 year-olds. Once you hit 55, odds are that you will stick with your favorite brands…out of habit. Tonight when you pick up the remote, let's see if you go to live TV or to your DVR playlist first. What we've seen is in primetime, TiVo owners typically go to their playlist first, then to live TV. Creatures of habit no doubt. Duhigg certainly could have had a chapter on TiVo, maybe we'll be in the revised edition. Greg DePalma is Vice President of Audience Insights at TiVo Inc., where he consults with advertiser, agency, and network clients to increase commercial effectiveness in a DVR world. Greg can be reached at gdepalma@tivo.com. Read all Greg's MediaBizBloggers commentaries at InteracTiVoty. Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggers.com The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggers.com management or associated bloggers. MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries. To communicate with or to be contacted by the executives and/or companies mentioned in this column, link to JackMyers Connection Hotline.
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The point of habit that you bring up is interesting and completely true. My grandparents are used to using commercial breaks for talking and running to the kitchen for refreshments. My parents adopted the use of a VCR back in the day, and have since gotten a DVR just because they were used to recording what they liked, and watching just that while fast-forwarding through commercials. I guess I’m a newer generation of a new breed. I started working for Dish part-time earlier this year, and in March, I was introduced to the Hopper. It’s a whole-home HD DVR with a feature called PrimeTime Anytime. When I enable it, it records the entire primetime lineup from CBS, ABC, NBC and FOX. I can go into these recordings and choose what I want to watch when I want. I’ve actually learned of many shows that I never knew existed! Here’s where it gets good. Recently Auto Hop was added as a feature on my Hopper, and it gives me the choice to watch my PrimeTime Anytime recordings commercial-free. I no longer have to hit fast-forward every 5 minutes, and it’s made watching TV tolerable. I wonder what my future children will have; I imagine it will be something akin to TV in the Matt Groening show, Futurama. Good stuff!
Posted at 10:06 PM on Jun 7, 2012 by ScottS
Younger people like watching more reality TV shows and that’s the reason why I like them. I use my DVR pretty often and since I got Dish's new Hopper that has an "Auto Hop" feature gives me the option to skip my commercials, I've cut my TV viewing down an hour. I don’t have to fast forward my programming, which is nice because I often fast forward to far past my programming. I work for Dish and I can tell you that we are now offering the Hopper free to new customers that sign up with Dish!
Posted at 10:49 AM on Jun 13, 2012 by Connan
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