Nielsen- VOD/DVR use expands, changing TV habits`

Nielsen's latest "Cross-Platform Report" notes that 60% of US TVHH have VOD (Video On Demand) capabilities through set-top boxes and access through video streaming services.  Nielsen suggests that ease of use and increased programming options have made VOD and increasingly viable option for TV viewing.

The report shows that while traditional TV viewing (live on TV sets) remains the source of most viewing, audiences are increasing their use of both DVRs and VOD for time shifting programs and supplementing their viewing options.  The report also suggests that DVR and VOD uses are developing unique niches, with DVR time-shifting primarily used for general dramatic series, and VOD used primarily for watching movies.

The full report finds that younger demographic groups are more likely to make use of VOD, as are families with kids, and households with incomes above $100,000.  There's no real difference in use between households with DVRs and those without, but those with high speed Internet connections are much more likely to use VOD.

If you look at how different age groups use different devices for watching video content, those 50+ report the highest amount of traditional TV viewing (over 40 hrs/week), while the 25-49 age groups do the most time-shifted viewing (3+ hrs/wk) and spend the most time on the internet on computers (6+ hrs/wk).  The 18-34 age group averages the most time watching video on the Internet (about 1.3 hrs/wk).

Looking at different race/ethnic groups, Blacks watch the most "traditional" TV, averaging more than 200 hrs/month.  They also spend the most time watching videos using DVD/BluRay players (6 hrs/month), game consoles (7+ hrs/month), and rank second to Asians in time watching video content through the internet (9 hrs/month).  Asians spend the least time watching video content on traditional TVs (86 hrs/month), yet spend the most time accessing the internet via computers (35 hrs/month) and watching videos through the internet (12 hrs/month).  Whites watch the most time-shifted video content, averaging 12 1/2 hrs/month.

Sources - Q2 2013 Cross-Platform Report: Viewing on Demand, Nielsen Newswire
Viewing on Demand: The Cross-Platform Report September 2013, Nielsen research report