Over half of British adults now own a PVR as time-shifting TV viewing becomes 'the default behaviour' Kantar Media research finds
Over half of British adults now own a personal video recorder (PVR) such as Sky+, YouView or V+ as time shifted viewing is moving towards “the default behaviour” for viewers, according to research released by Kantar Media.
The Future Proof study, which focused on over 2,000 UK adults over the age of 16 was conducted in August and discovered that 53 per cent of British adults owned a PVR at home, while just under half (49 per cent) said that they had watched on-demand television over the last month on any device. However 31 per cent of adults were found to still not own a PVR and were not using on-demand TV.
Live TV viewing remained the preferred viewing option for 51 per cent of respondents, with PVR viewing preferred by just over a third (34 per cent) and on-demand by 10 per cent.
Of those questioned who said that they used both PVR and on-demand TV, 52 per cent said that they would watch a series through their PVR, with 38 per cent saying they would watch live programming and 10 per cent watching on-demand.
Of those under the age of 35, 40 per cent of respondents said that they were less likely to choose to watch live TV than time-shifting, although it was also found that the majority of on-demand users (70 per cent) only used the service to catch up on programmes they had missed.
Trevor Vagg, director of Kantar Media Custom, said that the research indicated that television was still seen as “a convenient way” to relax and experience “unmissable” moments.
“The social opportunity to “media-mesh” with live content is also a factor that will surely continue to influence viewing choices. However, the ease of use and convenience of PVRs, and to a lesser extent on-demand services, is leading viewers towards a preference for being in control of when they watch their favourite programmes,” he added.
The research also found that just under half (47 per cent) of on-demand users said that they did so to watch programmes, but not when they were in front of a TV set, eluding to the rise in tablet device ownership.