Americans Don’t Watch 41% of Their Recorded TV Content

March 20, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Media & Entertainment | Mobile Phone | Television

Motorola-DVR-Usage-US-v-Global-Mar2013Motorola Mobility has released its “Fourth Annual Media Engagement Barometer,” containing some interesting statistics on TV and DVR usage. As noted by Nielsen, DVR usage has increased in recent years, leading networks to push for C7 ratings – and the Motorola study indeed finds that more than one-third of weekly TV viewing by Americans is recorded content, 17% higher than the 17-country average (34% vs. 29%). But, interestingly, of that recorded content, 41% is never watched, according to the study. The global average for DVR storage wastage is 36%.

The study also reveals that soaps and dramas (36%) rank as Americans’ top type of recorded content, followed by entertainment (34%) and movies (33%). That’s not terribly surprising, given that consumers generally will want to watch live content such as sports as it happens. In fact, the most popular reason given for recording content is because there is other content airing at the same time, which the viewer would prefer to watch live (81%). But, about three-quarters record to skip advertisements on commercial channels, which represents quite the head-ache for networks.

Nevertheless, DVR owners report spending more time watching TV than non-DVR owners. On a global basis, for example, they spend 7 hours a week watching films and movies, compared to 5.6 hours for those without a DVR.

Other Findings:

  • Americans spend the most time watching films and movies (6.5 hours), news (6 hours), and entertainment shows (5.9 hours) and the least time watching documentaries (2.5 hours) and soaps and dramas (4.2 hours).
  • Compared to the other 16 countries surveyed, Americans spend the most time watching news, entertainment shows and sports.
  • 55% of American respondents have deleted or moved recorded content due to storage limitations (compared to 68% globally).
  • 71% of US respondents expressed interest in a service that automatically loaded content based on a user’s preference to his/her mobile phone or tablet, to enjoy when on the move.
  • More Americans watch TV in the bedroom (54%) than in the living room (49%).

About the Data: The independent global study of video consumption habits sampled 9,500 consumers in 17 countries. The data was collected in December 2012.

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