Rise of DVRs

DVR usage continues to climb in US TV homes, with Leichtman Research reporting that 40% of them own at least 1 DVR, up from 8% 5 year ago, and Nielsen saying that DVR penetration reached 37.3% in July, or approx 43mln homes. Additional Nielsen data: within DVR homes, approx 20% of all the TV watched is playback of recorded content, 58% of DVR homes have a DVR within a cable set-top and 39% have 1 within their DBS box. Below is Nielsen data covering the rise in DVR penetration since Jan ‘06, plus the most heavily time-shifted cable shows during the past summer (Jun 28-Aug 22) among 18-49s. Notice that original series dominated the list of top DVRed cable programs in the demo, and that all the listed shows received at least 31% of their 18-49 viewership outside the premiere slots. As USA series comprised half the list, Bravo’s "Top Chef" (59%), AMC’s "Mad Men" (58%) and Lifetime’s "Project Runway" (50%) garnered at least half of their 18-49 viewership outside the slots.