• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, August 17, 2006

According to the latest data from Mediamark Research, 8.6% of U.S. adults reported having a DVR in their household. That percentage rose to 11.2% of adult households in the Spring 2006 release. (March 2005 to early May 2006.) The report summarizes that U.S. adults whose households have a digital video recorder are more upscale than those that do not and are more likely to be heavy readers of magazines and newspapers. They are also heavy users of the Internet.

The spring 2006 data show that:

• 36.8% of adults with DVR's have a college education and
• 17.1% have average household income exceeding $150,000 and
• 15.7% have home values exceeding $500,000
• 9% of the entire adult population have home values exceeding $500,000
• 25.2% of the entire adult population graduated college and
• 8% have an average income exceeding $150,000.

Adults in DVR households (vs. the general adult population):

• Are 43% more likely to be heavy readers of magazines
• Are 40% more likely to be heavy readers of newspapers
• Are 81% more likely to be heavy Internet users
• Are 23% less likely to be heavy TV viewers

In addition, new consumer research from Leichtman Research Group found that sixty percent of all digital cable subscribers have used VOD and about 12% of households in the United States now have a DVR, up from 3% just two years ago.

However, LRG estimates that less than 4% of all TV viewing in the US today is of recorded DVR programs or on-Demand viewing, up from about 2% a year ago.

Other key findings from the LRG study include:

• The mean reported number of programs recorded each week in DVR households increased by 23% in the past year to 11.3 programs recorded per week
• Among cable VOD users, the reported mean number of total on-Demand programs and movies ordered per week increased by 33% in the past year - to 4.8 per week
• Premium-on-Demand programs and movies account for half of all reported on-Demand usage
• 62% of DVR subscribers, and 64% of VOD users, say that they usually watch recorded or on-Demand programs when there is no regularly scheduled TV on that they want to watch

Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc., concludes "... By the end of 2010 over 50 million households will have a DVR and about 42 million will have access to VOD from their cable provider."

For more information from MediaMark please visit "press" here, and to see the LRG PDF file, go here.