Ofcom Int’l Comms Market Report: DVR confusion…

[Memo from the OfcomWatch research department]

I was doing some research for another purpose today and had reason to consult Ofcom’s ICMR 2008.  Section 4.1.4.1 (p. 146) of the ICMR deals with digital video recorders (DVRs), but can lead to a poor understanding of the TV market in some respects.  Here’s my take:

DVRs / PVRs / VOD / iTunes, etc. — These are competing technologies that enable people to tailor their consumption of televised content to match their schedule or viewing habits.  I would argue that these are services that should be tracked, researched, and mentioned in reports together:  To present one without the others — particularly in a comparative context — can paint only part of the overall picture and can do so in a misleading manner.  So, to say that ‘country X leads DVR take-up’ can be like a transport researcher claiming that ‘country X buys more red cars’.

What I think Ofcom is using DVR measurement for is as a proxy to assess the level of sophistication / customisation in the television market.  Fair enough, but I’m not sure that just counting DVRs gets you all the way there.  You need to get a bit more granular and ask people whether and how (and how often) they customise their television viewing.

So, for my home in Atlanta, I have Comcast Digital cable.  If you have this product, the VOD is included.  The Comcast VOD — in many important respects — replicates the type of service you would have with a DVR / PVR.  It’s not 100% the same as a DVR, but I thought it (combined with other things like  24 hour rolling news channels and my iTunes) was good enough that I did not obtain a separate DVR.  Death of linearity and all that…

Anyway… it relates to a criticism that a very clever person once told me about Ofcom’s research efforts:  Ofcom often researches things that are easily verifiable / measurable and will often not research things that are more meaningful.  I think the DVR section of the ICMR is an example of this tendency.

BTW: I question the Ofcom claim that only 14 percent of U.S. DVR take up is cable-related. (Figure 4.8).  That means that only about 3 million U.S. cable customers have DVRs?  That cannot be the case… can it?