Migration from TV to web ups pace
August 1, 2008
The IMMI data also tracked participants' behaviour, showing that within the group of online viewers, 50 per cent are watching programming as it becomes available and appear to be beginning to use the computer as a substitute for the television set. The other 50 per cent are using the Web as a tool to catch up, or to re-watch segments of episodes they have already seen. The data also showed that, in several instances, online viewing of a particular programme was higher than DVR viewing of that same programme, suggesting that the fairly large segment of non-DVR owners are adopting the computer for time-shifting rather than buying a DVR.
“This is the first study to show there are a significant amount of people watching primetime shows online who are not watching some portion of those shows on television,” said Amanda Welsh, head of research for IMMI. “Everyone's been talking about the Internet becoming a substitute for television; however this is the first single-source passive data to show that the migration from one platform to another is actually occurring – and it's happening fast.”
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