As a Concept, Prime Time Television is Dead

According to a recently released Digital Life America tracking study conducted by Solutions Research Group, nearly 80 million Americans (43 percent of the online population) have watched one of their favorite TV shows on the Internet, up significantly from 12 months ago when that figure was just 25 percent. One out of five Americans online said they watch TV on the web on a weekly basis, and that's not including the 14 percent who say they use cable's video-on-demand option.

From MediaPost Communications:

Those who viewed one of the leading 20 prime time shows in the past 24 hours were asked to identify the source of viewing. Overall, 25 percent of prime time viewing was time shifted using a DVR, broadband, mobile or similar. Among viewers 18-34, one-third (34 percent) of viewing was time-shifted. And among 18-49 households with a DVR, a remarkable 55 percent of the leading 20 shows were time-shifted.

If a household has a DVR and broadband, DVR is the preferred means of time-shifting. DVR users are becoming more aggressive in skipping commercials-65 percent say they "always" skip commercials compared to 52 percent a year ago.

Comments

[Broadband Internet]

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[S. P. Gass]

This is an interesting post, but I have a difficult time believing these survey results. I don't know a single person who watches TV shows on their computer. One possibility is that low-tech folks tend to refuse participating in privacy invading surveys, thus skewing the results.

Watching TV is obviously more enjoyable than watching a computer screen. TVs are typically in rooms with comfortable furniture and they are much larger than computer screens.

Finally, prime-time television is most definitely not dead as a concept. More at: http://lowtechtimes.com/2008/02/11/cablesatellite-vs-free-tv/