Younger adult viewers are two-and-a-half times more likely than older viewers to be technologically proactive in catching up on television shows they missed, a new study by The Nielsen Company says. The same study reported that more than half of older viewers will do nothing or wait for reruns if they miss an episode. The study shows that 56% of 18-34 year old adults use new technologies such as DVRs, the Internet, VOD and MP3 players to follow their favorite series, compared to 21% for viewers 55+.
The study also found that, when they did go online to watch streaming television over the Internet, more viewers (50%) reported going to ABC.com than any other site. The next most popular sites were NBC.com and CBS.com, at 41% and 37%, respectively.
Among all respondents, findings were fairly similar among men and women, as well as by income. However, a slight larger proportion of men (32%) relied upon the DVR to stay current (27% for women).
DVR ownership is second only to age in how aggressive respondents are to staying current with their favorite shows. Nearly 60% of all DVR owners use the device to stay current. (Note: DVR penetration among the Vegas respondents was more than twice as large as in Nielsen’s national TV panel, 46% to 20%).
