Home Video Recorders: A User Survey

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1 Home Video Recorders: A User Survey by Mark R. Levy As omrs record mooies and prime-time TV fare, the immediate effect may be to increase the TV audience; the long-range effect of pre-recorded material is Iess clear. The introduction of home video recorders in the mid-1970s marked the beginning of a new and uncharted era in broadcasting and communication. Along with cable TV, pay TV, and other new technologies, video cassette recorders (VCRs) are reshaping the home electronic environment. By the end of 1980, more than one million VCRs will have been sold for home use (9) and by 1985 that number is expected to increase severalfold as the cost of VCRs, now $800 to $lo00 or more, is reduced. The home video recorder boom has been the subject of considerable speculation in the popular and trade press (3,4,7,9). The three television networks, for example, are gearing up to supply specially produced cassettes for home viewing (5). Further, it is known that, like the earliest adopters of television nearly forty years before, the first owners of VCRs are a distinctly up-scale group (1, 6, 8). Almost three-quarters of recorder households, for instance, have family incomes of at least $30,000, and more than half are headed by persons holding professional or managerial jobs. Still, not very much is known about what VCR owners actually do with their recorders. This article will examine patterns of home video recorder -how often and when tapes are made, what types of broadcasts are most frequently recorded, and what kinds of pre-recorded cassettes are watched. The impact of VCR ownership on established patterns of television exposure also will be discussed. Data for this study were obtained from an analysis of television viewing and VCR-use diaries placed in video recorder households by Media Statistics Incorporated. VCR households were located by telephone screening of 28,556 house- Mark R. Levy is an Associate Professor in the College of Journalism, University of Maryland. This study was supported by a research grant from the National Association of Broadcasters. The author wishes to thank W. Lawrence Patrick and Russ McKennan. 23

2 Ioumol of Communication, Autumn 1980 holds selected at random by systematic, interval sampling in sixteen metropolitan areas nationwide during January-March, A total of 418 VCR households were identified and 249 households completed diaries for a one-week period, most during May and June, One diary was kept for each television set in the home. Entries from each diary were compiled into a household composite, listing the times and names of all programs and cassettes watched as well as the time and content of video recordings made. During the week for which a diary was kept, the average VCR household made slightly more than four recordings directly from its television set, played back between three and four tapes of previously broadcast programs, and watched less than one pre-recorded cassette which had been bought, rented, or borrowed from an outside source (see Table 1). Some 12.4 percent of households Table 1: Weekly frequency of selected video recorder uses (in percent) in VCR households (N = 249) Watching Replaying Frequency prerecorded Making home home-made of use tapes recordings recordings per week % % % More than did not use their VCR at all during the diary week, although they did watch television. Almost half of recorder households made or replayed from one to four tapes, while more than three-quarters did not view a single pre-recorded cassette. No household sampled made more than twenty home-recordings, played back more than twenty home-made tapes, or screened more than eight pre-recorded cassettes. Movies, including made-for-tv films, and situation comedies were the most frequently recorded and replayed programs.2 Overall, 24.3 percent of The sixteen metropolitan areas surveyed were, in decreasing order of VCR penetration, New York, Los Angeles, Denver-Boulder, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Fresno, Detroit, Washington, Cleveland, Atlanta, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Riverside-San Bemadino-Redlands, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore. Mean VCR ownership was 1.5 percent (s = 0.55) of households, and ranged from a high of 2.5 percent in the New York City metropolitan area to a low of 0.3 percent in the Baltimore market. The type of program recorded will of course vary somewhat depending on the time of year. High interest sports programs, for example, are broadcast most frequently in the fall and winter, and thus could be expected to make up a higher proportion of recordings made during those seasons. 24

3 Home Videb Reco&: A Waer Surcey home recordings were of movies and 14.6 percent were of situation comedies. Motion pictures accounted for 23.2 percent of playbacks, with situation comedies making up 14.6 percent. The next most popular program type was soap operas, representing 11.0 percent of home-made tapes and 11.7 percent of playbacks. No other type of program (entertainment specials, sports, mini-series, etc.) made up more than eight percent of total recordings or replays, and most added far less to the total. Motion picturea were also the most popular content of pre-recorded fare. The largest proportion of pre-recorded cassettes viewed (38.9 percent) consisted of X- or R-rated films. Comedy films, both current release and classic, were the next most popular category at 13.3 percent. No other film category contributed more than 8.3 percent to the total and less than four percent of all pre-recorded cassettes played were of non-film materials such as sports events or rock concerts. Depending on the hour and day of the week, up to 11.6 percent of VCR households were taping, but not simultaneously watching, a television broadcast (see Table 2). However, across thirteen different parts of a day, the mean number of these record-only households was only 2.1 percent. In addition, in any given time period, as many as 8.4 percent of households were playing back a home-made tape of a previously broadcast program, although the average for all parts of a day is smaller. Peak hours for recording-only were 9:30 to 1130 p.m. weekdays and 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturdays. Favorite hours for replaying home-made tapes were weekdays during prime time. Table 2: Percentage of video cassette recorder households (N * 249) by VCR use and selected parts of day Part of day Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-430 p.m. Mon.-Sat p.m. Sat. 830 a.m.-i p.m. Sat. 11:30 p.rn.-1 a.m. Sun p.m. X for all parts of day s for all parts of day Watching TV while Record- Recording Recording Playing Playing Viewing ing same different home outside TV only TV only channel channel recording cassette % % % % % % o I.3 1.o oo

4 Iwmal of Communicatwn, Autumn 1980 Across all parts of a day, approximately one VCR household in 100 (x = 1.3, s = 1.00) simultaneously watched and recorded what it saw, and nearly the same proportion (x = 1.0, s = 1.42) watched one program while taping another channel at the same time. Simultaneous viewing and recording was greatest during weekday and Sunday prime time. From 8:00 p.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, for example, a total of nearly eight percent of home video cassette households watched television and simultaneously recorded either the program being viewed or another broadcast. On Sunday nights in prime time, the proportion of VCR households both watching and recording rose to almost ten percent. The mean number of VCR households playing pre-recorded cassettes was only 0.6 percent across all parts of a day. Weeknight playing of pre-recorded cassettes ran two to six times higher than the overall average, especially after 9:30 p.m. Virtually no pre-recorded cassettes were played weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The largest proportion of households playing pre-recorded tapes (3.6 percent) occurred Saturday after 1O:OO p.m. Three conclusions can be drawn from these akta which represent evidence about a large share of the VCR audience. Although the data presented here do not come from a standard, national probability sample, they are based on diaries in eight of the ten largest television markets as well as a number of mid-sized and smaller areas (2). With care, the findings can be generalized to the entire population of VCR owners. First, at present, the number of viewers irretrievably lost from the total television audience because of VCR ownership is small. Only a few potential viewers, never more than 3.6 percent of VCR households at any given time, have their sets on, but are using the television screen to watch a pre-recorded cassette. These individuals have opted out of the TV audience. But again, they are a minority of VCR households and VCR households are a minute part of the current TV audience. Second, video cassette recorders make it easier or more convenient to watch television, and provide a means of building libraries of favorite programs, taped for future, perhaps repeated, viewing. Households which record-only, which simultaneously watch and record, or which play back previously recorded programs can be considered a delayed or time-shifted audience. They watch what is broadcast, but they watch when they want or are able to. Since these time-shifted viewers have made a monetary commitment in the form of a VCR purchase, and since they have made the effort, however small, to use their video recorder, it is also possible that time-shifted viewers may be among the most interested, attentive, and active members of the television audience. Third, at present, video recorder ownership may be increasing the total size of the television audience. Audience numbers are augmented in three ways. First, some programs which might otherwise be missed due to competing activi- 26

5 Home Video RecoA: A User Suruey ties can now be saved on tape. Second, a VCR makes it feasible eventually to watch two different programs even though they are broadcast simultaneously. Finally, since almost half of VCR households replay home-made tapes once or twice before erasing them (8), repeated viewing of the same program is likely over time. If, for the moment, VCR ownership increases the total number of TV viewers, this is so largely because the high price of pre-recorded cassettes keeps many individuals from acquiring a large number (6,8). If, however, as is already happening, the cost of pre-recorded material falls, then more and more VCR households are likely to increase the size of their cassette collections. As VCR penetration of the home electronics market continues and the pre-recorded cassette holdings of individuals increase, the broadcast audience may shrink substantially and we may see the growth of a narrowcast audience based on VCRs and other home playback devices. REFERENCES 1. Bogart, Leo. The Age of Teleoision. New York: Frederick Ungar, Broudcosting Yeurhk Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, Brown, Les. Home Videotapes Expect Boom in 80 s. The New York Times, June 13, 1979, p. C Buckwalter, Len. The Complete Home Video Book. New York: Bantam, Funt, Peter. Broadcasters Are Switching to Narrowcasting. The New York Times, December 16, 1979, pp. D43 and D Home Video Cassette Recorders: OwnershipAJsage The Arbitron Company, New York, Nulty, Peter. Matsushita Takes the Lead in Video Recorders. Fortune, July 16, 1979, pp Results of Special Mediastat Survey Conducted in Video Recorder Homes. Media Statistics Incorporated, Silver Spring, Md., n.d. 9. Television s Fragmented Future. Business Week, December 17, 1979, pp

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