For Millennials, the DVR is an afterthought

By the editors of Media Life

This article is part of an ongoing Media Life series entitled “The bigger story on America’s Millennials.” You can read previous stories by clicking here.

You’d probably expect Millennials to have a higher level of usage than other demographics for a slew of new media devices—smartphones, connected TVs, tablets, DVRs.

Hold up a second on that last one.

DVRs, as it turns out, hold about as much interest for Millennials as their parents’ old VCRs. It’s a combination of changing TV habits and the view that the DVR is, well, dated in the eyes of this younger generation, which has led to lower levels of usage of the device compared to older demos.

A new study from the Video Advertising Bureau breaks down DVR habits through generations, income levels and ethnicity.

One major takeaway from the report is that DVRs simply aren’t as important to younger generations as older.

VAB finds Millennials devote less of their TV time to DVR viewing than any other major demo. Among the youngest of them, 18-24s, time-shifting represents just 18 percent of all time spent watching television—which means 82 percent of their TV time is spent watching live.

That’s higher than teens (80 percent) and 2-11s (79 percent).

And it’s much higher than adults 35-49, who spend only 76 percent of their time watching live TV.

Total time spent with DVR content is also much lower. Adults 18-24 spend 15 hours and 16 minutes per month with time-shifted content, or about half of what 50-64s and adults over 65 do.

Even among the older Millennials, time is lower than other adult demos, at 24 hours and 26 minutes.

The takeaway

So why the disparity between older and younger viewers?

A number of reasons, including:

* Millennials prefer the instant gratification of finding shows they missed on TV on-demand via VOD, on networks’ websites or streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu.

* Millennials watch less TV overall, and when they do watch, it tends to be programs that are viewed more live, such as sports or reality shows like “The Bachelor,” one of their top shows.

* Millennials tend to be more diverse than their older counterparts, and Hispanics and blacks are, overall, less likely to own DVRs.

* Millennials grew up with DVRs, so they view them as traditional media. They know other ways to find the shows they want to watch rather than recording them.

* Fewer Millennials subscribe to cable or satellite, thanks to cord cutting, so fewer have DVRs.

* Total viewing of time-shifted content has declined across all demos.

Tags: dvr, DVR viewing, explaining millennials, he bigger story on America's Millennial, millennials, millennials series, studies, vab