• by Wayne Friedman , December 4, 2008

The next tech explosion: DVRs will be in nearly half of all TV homes in six years.

A report from Interpublic Group of Cos.' media consultant group Magna says that DVR homes will reach 52.3 million, or 44% of all TV households, in 2014. Right now, DVRs are in 30.1 million homes or 27% of all TV households, with their growth rate at 22% versus 2007.

The downside is that DVRs will continue to erode total viewing impressions--pegged at 4% over a 10-year period, 2004 to 2014, for all dayparts. The upside is that during that time there will be an increase in TV usage. In recent years, there has been less than one percent growth in TV consumption per year, with the number of TV households rising by more than 1% per year.

The report, written by Brian Weiser, senior vice president and director of industry analysis for Magna, says that DVR usage will continue to disproportionately target younger target audiences, specifically during prime-time television.

Other, more broadly distributed digital platforms will also improve. Video on demand-enabled TV homes will rise to 68.8 million in 2014, or 57% of all TV households. End-of-the-2008-year estimates are that VOD homes will be at 42.1 million, or 37% of all TV homes. VOD grew 17% over 2007 numbers.

Likewise, broadband access will climb--estimated to be 68.7 million at the end of 2008, or 59% of all U.S. homes--and projected to rise to 86.2 million, or 70% of U.S. homes, by the end of 2014.