Not only are more people catching up on episodes of missed TV programs online, but they are also “co-viewing” those shows online, according to findings from a new NBC intercept survey of its full-episode player, NBC Rewind.
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We’ve know for a while that people use network web sites to catch up on missed episodes or even as an outright replacement for TV, and NBC found visitors used Rewind more heavily in the fourth quarter of 2008 vs. the same time period a year prior. And 94 percent of visitors said they “always or usually watched” the entire episode of a show on Rewind.
More interesting, however, was data about what went on outside of the computer. More than half of visitors surveyed during the fourth quarter of 2008 co-viewed an episode at some point. Of those co-viewers, 30 percent “always or usually watch” with someone else. Part and parcel with that finding, visitors in the fourth quarter of 2008 were also more likely to watch shows on a desktop computer in their office, den or living room. That’s a shift from the third quarter of 2008, when they said they watched on laptops and in their bedroom.
Of course, given NBC’s fourth place among networks, it makes sense that viewers would catch up online as they were probably too busy watching ABC, CBS or FOX during prime time (snark attack!). But watching with another real-life person means that online video could become a legitimate TV replacement.
There are debates right now whether cord-cutting among cable subscribers is a reality. But desktop viewing presumably means watching larger monitors, and moving from the bedroom to the living room means that viewers are creating 10-foot experiences. If NBC’s findings are indicative of a larger trend, then we may need to re-think how much of a myth cord-cutting really is.
Elsewhere, CBS announced today that with 21 million unique viewers according to comScore VideoMetrix, it was the most-viewed network web site.
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