Recent surveys indicate that, despite advertisers fears of having their TV spots skipped over, users of digital video recorders (DVRs, like TiVo) pay attention to ads they are fast-forwarding past.
More than twice as many survey respondents said they always notice commercials while fast-forwarding than those who say they never notice (15 percent compared to 7 percent). This comes as good news for advertisers who are concerned that TV viewers will eliminate commercials with the push of a button.
“People are still getting exposure [to ads] but they’re doing what they want with it,” said Lee Smith, president and CEO of InsightExpress.
Smith added that even though viewers are fast-forwarding through commercials, there is still some recognition and they are more likely to watch a commercial they haven’t seen before. The survey found that 54 percent of DVR users have rewound or paused television commercials to better understand the advertised product and 37 percent would welcome the opportunity to request additional product information via their DVR.
(Link via MarketingVOX.)