I DVR Therefore I Am...Not Seeing Any Commercials?

Ever since I got a DVR on my Dish Network system, I'll have to admit that I rarely watch live TV anymore. I record all kinds of shows, sometimes ones that I have never seen before just to see if I'll like them. When I am watching the shows recorded on my DVR, 99.9% of the time I will skip all the commercials.

Does this mean that I am not being impacted by the advertising that companies have so strategically placed? According to Informa Media the US leads the rest of the world in numbers of DVR's and by 2013, there will be more Digital Video Recorders in the US than Asia and Western Europe combined. J.D. Power and Associates says that over 44% of TV viewers now have a DVR. Wow, it feels pretty good to be ahead of the rest of the world on something. I knew being a couch potato was going to pay off sooner or later.

But back to the question. Are people that have DVR's missing out on advertising? Boston College reasearch says NO. As it turns out, brand information that is placed in the center of the screen is retained even with a "95% drop in frames" when a viewer "fast forwards" through the commercial break. “Even in fast-forward, consumers can focus in on a product logo or brand and that fraction of a second can later influence their references,” said Boston College marketing professor S. Adam Brasel. “It’s not like the advertising disappears when you use TiVo.”

I know I sometimes stop and go back if I see something really cute cool, manly or intriguing, but that's me. I try to never apply my personal habits in marketing situations or recommendations. I can be that free radical that everyone always talks about.

This brings me to my next thought. When developing a commercial, don't you think that we must now plan on and execute for the new DVR factor? Since the studies show that viewers are "scanning" the ads rather than skipping the ads, this requires us to reformulate brand placement. Bearing this in mind, here is yet another reason the commercials from the Truth group will fall short in a big way. Continuous and rapid brand messaging will be critical to get the essential short message across to the DVR viewer. Maybe even in a manner that would appear to be subliminal advertising during a fast forward. Remember Fight Club?

This is yet another example of how technology is changing the way we advertise. Do you have a DVR? Do you view the commercials when you watch a recorded show? Do you find yourself irritated when you can't fast forward live TV? These are the questions that the world wants to know. What say you?