Nielsen: Younger Adults More Proactive in Catch-up TV Viewing

NEW YORK, December 4: A new Nielsen study indicates that
younger adult viewers are two-and-a-half times more likely than older viewers
to proactively use technology such as DVRs, VOD, the Internet and MP3 players to
catch up on television shows they have missed.

The study revealed that 56 percent of 18- to 34-year-old
adults use new technologies such as digital video recorders (DVRs), the
Internet, VOD and MP3 players to follow their favorite series, compared to 21
percent for viewers aged 55 and older. The study also found that more than half
of older viewers surveyed would do nothing or wait for reruns if they miss an
episode.

Nielsen also discovered that DVR ownership is second only to
age in how aggressive respondents are in staying current with their favorite
shows, with nearly 60 percent of all DVR owners using the device to stay
current. A slight larger proportion of men—32 percent—relied upon
the DVR to stay current, versus 27 percent of women.

In terms of online streaming of television shows, 25 percent
of respondents said they watched a full-length episode streamed online in the
past three months, led by 39 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds. Only 11 percent of
respondents aged 55 and older said they had done so.

The study found that when viewers did go online to watch
streaming television over the Internet, more viewers (50 percent) reported
going to ABC.com than any other site. The next most popular sites were NBC.com
and CBS.com, at 41 percent and 37 percent, respectively. The single largest
factor that drove awareness of Internet-based streaming alternatives was not
high-speed Internet access at home, but whether the respondents had loaded
iTunes on their home PCs.

"Younger viewers have been faster than older
generations to adopt new television options, but since technology adoption is
increasing within all age groups, this study gives us a glimpse into a future
when all viewers will take more initiative to catch up on shows they have
missed," said Steve McGowan, Nielsen’s senior VP of client research
initiatives. "This will have tremendous implications on how networks
schedule and distribute their programming."

The study was conducted by Nielsen in October 2007 with more
than 1,500 adults at the CBS Television City research facility in Las Vegas.

—By Irene Lew