Who's afraid of the PVR?

If your Spirito de Punto is flagging and you really Can Believe It's Not Butter, then a personal video recorder is probably your dream gadget.
By 2010, 30% of the population will have a PVR, allowing instant record and playback of TV programmes, and crucially, the ability to skip commercials.

The recorders, such as Sky Plus, present advertisers with a pressing dilemma - more people watch commercial TV when they have a PVR, with viewing up 17%, but 77% of them skip the ads. Even 17% of viewers watching "live" TV with a PVR jump the ads, according to new research from media agency Starcom, which has analysed the habits of 500 PVR users.

There are 420,000 PVRs in use in the UK now. The figure will rise to 5m in four years. By 2008, penetration will reach 21% of the population and by 2012 it will be 34%. People with PVRs watch more TV, are more attentive and enjoy it more. They are less distracted, being able to press pause whenever they like. But the increased quality of viewing is negated for advertisers. PVR users claim they didn't buy one in order to skip ads. But given the opportunity, they do.

Read the article: www.media.guardian.co.uk