Advertisers feel chill from new video

RAPID growth in the number of households with Sky Plus personal video recorders (PVRs) could spell the end of TV advertising as we know it.

Leading media buyer Mindshare warned today that its research found signs that viewing time among young people is already falling and that the sought-after advertising audience of high-income ABC1 adults will become more difficult to reach as PVRs are used to filter out unwanted ads.

PVRs are best known here under the Sky Plus digital box label, which enables viewers to record up to 20 hours of programmes on a hard disk. But a whole range of new devices, including some linked to Freeview, the free digital channels backed by the BBC, are about to be launched.

Currently, some 250,000 homes in this country own a PVR but industry experts say this will climb to a quarter of households within three years.

Recent research of 1,000 PVR users in the US, by CNW Marketing Research, suggests certain types of advertising are more likely to be skipped - viewers passed on one third of beer ads but 93% of credit card and fast food commercials were given a miss.

Ed Wooller, business director at Mindshare, said: 'It is not universally gloomy for TV advertising, but PVRs will force advertisers to rethink their approach using more sponsorship, product placement and advertiser-funded content.

'It could also mean more emphasis by advertisers on live programming such as news and sport.'

A spokesman for Sky pointed out early adopters of new technology such as PVRs tend not to be typical mass audiences and learn to time-shift away from adverts quickly. Sky Plus viewers also watch more TV overall so, even with the use of PVRs, see just as many adverts.

Wooller warned PVRs could force the consolidation of some key advertising sectors and make some advertisers pull out of TV.