TiVo reveals DVR viewership surpasses live TV

TiVo has released its latest audience research, revealing that viewership of recorded TV programs and internet-delivered content has surpassed live TV viewership. With all the new options of on-demand video content and services that let you watch what you want when you want, it's not too surprising.

TiVo's DVR service offers users four ways to access content, including traditional live TV, recorded TV, video-on-demand, and other internet-delivered content, such as through Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu Plus. This latest study found that only 38 percent of viewing via TiVo is live. Of the TiVo users that also use the internet content services, such as Netflix, only 27 percent of viewing was of live TV.

The company's audience research unit tracks anonymous usage across 2 million TiVo DVR devices on a second-by-second basis. An obvious trend is that for videos, users generally prefer on-demand, whether its recorded or delivered via broadband. Although the study doesn't take into account the viewers not using a TiVo DVR, it does show a major shift in the way we watch television that will require the TV industry to adjust how it delivers ads and distributes its programming.

[via Hollywood Reporter]