Nearly 60% of DVR users recorded broadcast shows airing at 8 and 9 p.m. in February, resulting in a notable decrease in programs recorded or viewed live in the 10 p.m. hour, according to an analysis by TiVo of its subscribers.
The DVR company compared primetime recording trends for ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox for the month, and found the 9 p.m. slot was the most heavily time-shifted hour with 59% of viewers recording shows, while the 8 p.m. hour was close behind at 58% time-shifted viewing.
Around 30% of the time-shifted viewing takes place within an hour of airing, according to TiVo. As such, during the 10 p.m. slot, 53% of DVR users recorded shows for later viewing and only 47% tuned in live.
"Much of the time-shifted viewing from the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. airings stomps out the audience that would historically watch 10 p.m. programming in live mode," said Todd Juenger, general manager of TiVo's audience research and measurement group, in a statement. "While some viewers will record programs aired at 10 p.m. for viewing later in the week, many are abandoning that hour of television altogether."
The findings were based on data gathered through TiVo's StopWatch ratings service, which tracks ratings for 93 networks from 5:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. using an anonymous random sample of 100,000 TiVo subscribers.
