Published 06/06/07 on AdAge.com was an interesting article that continues the topic of how the increased use of DVRs is impacting the consumers’ TV-viewing behavior.

This time, the research study mentioned by author Brian Steinberg hails from IAG Research and found a few interesting tidbits of information. First and most concerning is that “people who use DVRs have one-third less general recall of commercials than people who watch the ads on live TV.” That’s right: one third. That’s in stark contrast to the finding by the NBC Universal TV Research folks that says that the drop in ad effectiveness in households with DVRs is slight. “Consider the source,” I said before.

According to estimates by Interpublic’s Magna Global, DVR subscribers will number almost 40 million (34% of US households) by the end of 2011. Further, the article notes that “already, a Nielsen study of the 2006-2007 TV season finds that ‘nearly all the viewing declines in live TV can be attributed to the increase in DVR use.’ And that’s with 97% of prime time viewing still occurring live.” That’s not an insignificant impact for a device that is currently in about 20 million homes.

As I’ve said before, it is incumbent on us to figure out how to get our consumers to engage with our message before it’s too late. The days of disrupting and interrupting the target to feed her our message are quickly coming to an end. Enter the days of getting consumers to seek out your message. That’s a paradigm shift that few are prepared to surmount. It’s about using other channels but also about using all channels (yes, even television) differently. Are we ready?

The research study’s second finding noted by the article is that contrary to conventional wisdom, the place for your TV spot to be is not the first position in the pod, but rather the last. Ad recall in DVR homes was found to be highest for those that run last in the commercial break. Why? I can tell you from personal experience. It’s easy to notice that a commercial break is starting (and thus you hit the fast forward button on your TiVo remote) but it’s difficult to figure out when it ends (especially when in fast forward mode). Since I don’t want to miss any part of the show I’m watching, I tend to stop early and catch the last spot in the pod.

Can last-in-pod positions exclusively be bought? At least in the general market, that’s a delicate situation. Networks have tended to parcel out first and last positions across clients to keep everyone happy and not rock any boats. What will happen when everyone starts clamoring for last positions? Perhaps we’ll end up with many more commercial breaks (kind of like the Oprah show) that are one minute long, offering only first and last positions to advertisers.

A third finding that may spark some controversy according to the author can be summarized as “creativity works.” As the article puts it, ads with more “‘creative’ flair tend to be better recalled by DVR viewers.” The author notes that this finding dovetails nicely with the network executives position that while they have to figure out a way to address these issues, advertisers have to do their part by improving their ads.

I also addressed this point in an earlier post on the DVR issue. We have to give consumers what they want, what they will seek. Great creative will find an audience or an audience will find it. It’s encouraging to hear that great creative is still very much a critical part of our craft. The bar continues to be raised, though, and it’s up to us to keep jumping over it time and time again.

You can read the article in full (heads up: subscription may be required).