Study: DVR to Reach 44 Percent of U.S. TV Households by 2014

NEW YORK, December 5:
Magna has issued its latest on-demand quarterly report, citing an expected 52.3
million U.S. households, or 44 percent, to have a digital video recorder by the
end of 2014.

The Magna report
indicates that over the ten years between 2004 and 2014, DVRs will contribute
to a 4-percent erosion in total viewing impressions across all dayparts. It
also says that the erosion caused by DVRs will be more than offset by overall
increases in TV consumption and an increase in the number of total households.
For the ten-year timeframe indicated, total viewing impressions are expected to
be up 20 percent.

"Of course, while
DVRs will continue to disproportionately impact younger target audiences and
network prime time, the aging of our society and the gradually eroding
importance of network prime time will likely render such targets incrementally
less important in the years ahead," the report stated.

Magna expects that by
2014, 68.8 million households will get VOD, up from 40.4 million in the third
quarter of 2008. The number of homes with broadband access is expected to rise
to 86.2 million households by 2014, up from 68.3 million this year.

The report also examined
Canoe, the U.S. cable industry's advanced ad platform: "Although the
potential of Canoe holds much promise, short-term challenges are rife: the
market-size for advanced TV advertising is presently very small, and likely to
be meaningfully impacted by troubles with the auto industry. Concurrently,
operational issues and technical limitations may limit the speed with which the
platform can move beyond a stage which would be considered experimental to the
largest national advertisers."

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski