DVRs NOW IN OVER ONE OF EVERY FIVE U.S. HOUSEHOLDS

New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) found that over one in every five households in the United States now have a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) – up from about one in every thirteen households just two years ago. Fueled by a continued push from cable and DBS providers offering combination HD/DVR set-top boxes, the study says that the number of US households with DVRs will grow to over 60 million by the end of 2011.

Other key findings include:

• The mean household income of DVR owners is 33% above average
• 53% of DVR owners say that they have an HDTV set
• 45% of DVR owners record five or fewer programs per week
• While 84% of DVR owners rate the ability to skip commercials as very important, just 8% of DVR owners say it is the greatest benefit of having a DVR

Based on a survey of 1,300 households throughout the United States, LRG says the growth of DVRs does not mean that the era of live TV viewing has ended. They estimate that 95% of all TV viewing in the US is still of live TV.