The behavior of almost every avid television watcher has changed in several ways with the introduction on TiVo in three major ways – time management, life satisfaction, and consumer habits.
TiVo users typically don’t channel surf, they know what they want to view, and have it at their fingertips as soon as they have the time to watch it. This translates into users watching more programs, but less live TV. The time that has been recouped from channel surfing and commercials, has been taken up by additional TV shows.
Because the recording is available at any time, users have scored a much higher life satisfaction rating. A busy parent can spend time with their kids, help them with homework, and tuck them into bed, while their favorite show is recording. They can watch it at their own convenience instead of only when it shows live. In short, they are able to “have their cake, and eat it too.” They feel they are better parents, spouses, etc… but they can still enjoy their own interests as well.
The last, and most economically significant change of life, is the consumer habits of users. First, some users feel that since they can record shows and watch them on their own time, purchasing premium channels has a higher value. Some people wouldn’t watch TV at all if they didn’t have TiVo. Another point of view is that since TiVo allows fast-forwarding, commercials are being skipped over and aren’t nearly as valuable to those companies that have purchased the air time. The first commercial of the break is usually the most valued, and it is usually the most creative. Producers have to be catchy in order for the viewer not to start fast-forwarding right through their “sale.” The very last commercial of the break is typically a local one or a channel commercial showing upcoming shows. This is a “trigger commercial” for a lot of viewers to let them know that their program is returning. The very last line of that commercial is typically very important because the view will most likely hear it, perhaps spawning a rewind to hear the entire thing. When TiVo first launched, like most technology, Experiencers were some of the first to purchase and use the system. Because they are in the high-resource group, they were the first to learn about the system, have a desire for it, and act on that prompt. Experiencers are active and involved, this fits hand in hand with the