July 26th, 2006
You Skip, Tivo Tells on You
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Whether or not it’s tattling is up to you, but Tivo has launched a research division that tracks ad-skipping. With over 4 million subscribers, Tivo’s data could be very telling.
On average, TiVo has found that its users spend nearly half of their television time watching programs recorded earlier. And viewers of those recorded shows skip about 70 percent of the commercials, said Todd Juenger, TiVo’s vice president for audience research. Source: The New York Time via IHT
We Say: Based on my personal experience, this sounds about right (I have a DirecTivo). Am I in the monitored user group, though? 
More of my thoughts here.
Jim Frost says:
I find two things interesting: 1) That TiVo owners spend only about half of the time watching recorded content. My family watches recorded content almost exclusively (with the exception of certain sports, mostly because we don’t have an HD TiVo yet). And 2) They only skip 70% of commercials. I probably skip more like 90%, but both my wife and I will rewind to commercials that look interesting during the blip-through.
Using the cable company DVR I am much less likely to rewind because it actually fails to show quick blips of video when skipping forward several times in succession. The Motorola DVR is, in general, horribly non-responsive.
July 26th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
Charles says:
The thing that always amazes me about TV advertising is that it doesn’t have to suck. We all know there are some very entertaining commercials out there, so why aren’t they all like that?
I have actually saved a show on Tivo because it had a commercial I wanted to watch again later or show to a friend.
If they want me to watch more commercials then make them more interesting! Until then, I will skip over them whenever the Tivo remote is in my hand.
July 26th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Darrell says:
I tape all of my programs, so I can skip the commercials. Since getting Tivo I cannot stand waiting through commercials, so I rarely watch live programs anymore.
July 27th, 2006 at 12:07 am
Mike says:
I record almost everything i want to watch except for sporting events. I have a DVR from Dish Network, as Tivo is WAYYYY too expensive monthly!!! I skip about 95% of the commercials. I pay for sat service, why should I have to watch crap also? Some commercials are really good, but 95% ( same as the amount i skip - imagine that ) SUCK!
Remember when we used to get around 46-48 minutes for a 1 hour show? those were the days *rolling eyes badly*
Mike
If i have to watch commerciasl - give me free programming, and I will agree with having the FF disabled! no free service, stay the hell away from my dvr/pvr controls :p
July 27th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
Snopesman says:
Free service exists, hook up the bunny ears or get an antenna on the roof. They even have HD for free over this mechanism called “broadcasting”. Happy viewing!
July 29th, 2006 at 7:35 pm