PVR households now comprise 3% of all TV households in South Africa - growth that is described as ''terrific'' and which is starting to ''have a significant impact on South African television viewing patterns''.
''PVR households now comprise 3% of all TV households in South Africa and PVR usage in South Africa is just unbelievable and terrific.'' So says dr Chris Eyre, the managing director of AGB Nielsen Media Research in South Africa. He was speaking this morning to advertisers, media planners, press and industry stakeholders about the growing impact of time-shifted viewing (TSV) in South Africa's television environment.
''That 3% of PVR households are the top 3% of TV households – very upmarket people, working people, they don't have a lot of time to sit and watch TV, they spend less time watching television and live television; and they watch a lot of PVR'ed shows they've recorded. They're time poor and want to watch television when they can,'' says dr Chris Eyre.
''The interesting thing though, according to the latest research, is that with PVR viewing commercials don't suffer,'' he says. ''There is actually a greater viewership of commercials with a PVR. If an advert is bad – the ''buy two for one of this thing tomorrow'' – it's not watched. However commercials that are worth watching, that's on a PVR, actually maintains viewership to a large degree.''
''Analogue channels like SABC1, SABC2, SABC3 and e.tv do pick up time-shifted viewers on DStv - meaning people record shows on those channels on their DStv PVR and watch it later. Those viewers are added back, but the gain is smaller than for M-Net and other DStv channels which have a much higher PVR usage,'' he said.
The latest viewership gain per TV channel in primetime when PVR household viewing, or time-shifted viewing (TSV) on DStv gets added in, now looks like this:
SABC1 2%
SABC2 1,4%
SABC3 0,7%
e.tv 1,4%
M-Net 14,2% (not M-Net analogue; M-Net on DStv)
DStv total combined for other channels 15,1%
''The growth of PVRs and PVR usage in South Africa is just unbelievable and terrific,'' says dr Chris Eyre. ''PVR use is just going to keep growing – there's no question about that. The longer you have a PVR, the more you use it. The PVR is starting to have a significant impact on South African television viewing patterns. It's a learning experience; it's a superb machine, and it's just going to grow.''
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