BRUSSELS — Four out of five TiVo and DVR owners use the technology to systematically skip all ads, research released Monday revealed.

Both TiVo and service provider DVR customers are just as likely to skip most commercials, according to the survey by ABI Research. It showed just how much advertisers are ignored by viewers who use the technology: nearly four of five TiVo customers and more than 82% of service provider DVR customers indicated that they skip all or most commercials.

Both types also are likely to record significant amounts of TV per day. Nearly half of TiVo owners indicated that they recorded two or more hours per day, while 43% of service provider DVR owners record a similar amount of shows.

“The market for DVR is fairly mature,” ABI director Michael Wolf said. “While just a few years ago many consumers still did not have a firm grasp of the benefit DVRs would bring them, today the concept of DVR and time-shifting is fairly well understood. That being said, adoption levels are still fairly dependent on service-provider rollouts and whether consumers are interested in paying additional fees for the benefits of a DVR.”

The survey found that consumer video service providers are effectively becoming the primary supplier of time-shifting technology to consumers in the form of an advanced set-top box.

The research indicated that behavior in usage of DVRs was similar regardless of who provides it or the user’s demographic profile. “While there are slight variations in usage based on age and income, once you put the technology in their hands, the vast majority of consumers show similar behavior,” Wolf said.

(SOURCE:HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)