A More Active Audience for TV

According to one recent analysis, delayed viewing (from DVR or VOD) is becoming the dominant form of primetime entertainment watching.  The Rentrack State of VOD report that delayed viewing was up 24% during prime time last year.  In 2013, some 43.2 million sets accessed a total of 4.4 billion hours of VOD content.  That works out to an average of 9 hours of VOD content a month per TV set.

But a better reflection of the change in audience TV viewing habits was the fact that 66% of the viewing of broadcast prime-time programming occurred more than 3 days after the original broadcast.  Delayed viewing is not concentrated to particular days; those watching On-Demand content did so on an average of 16-18 days a moth.  TV viewers, in the U.S. at least, are increasingly choosing when they watch their favorite programs.

"The consumer is utilizing the VOD button on their remote in a bigger way than ever, and TV networks have responded with their best programming," said Rentrak Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman Bill Livek.

Source:  Video-On-Demand Broadcast Primetime Viewing Grew 24% According to Rentrak's Newly-Released 'State of VOD' Report,  Market Watch