I know that DVRs are great. But can they save relationships? That’s what a survey of DVR users claims, according to lots and lots of articles on the Internet. The survey also said that 80% of U.S. respondents said they can’t live without their DVRs.

The survey was released by NDS, a company that focuses on securing broadcast TV content and providing DVR technology to satellite TV broadcasters. (As a side note, NDS is a subsidiary owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.)

Apparently NDS paid a UK company called Consumer Analysis Group to conduct this survey. Although the results of this survey doesn’t come from an independent research and analysis firm, CAG seems to be a fairly typical firm that does consumer surveys. Apparently, NDS wanted to generate a press release about DVRs. Of course NDS benefits from the headlines generated about the survey results because they are a provider of DVR technology.

CAG Survey Picture

NDS said that Consumer Analysis Group polled of 1,012 people aged 18-70 years old who use DVRs in four countries. Each country had about 250 respondents each: UK (256), US (252), Italy (251) and Australia (253). The survey was conducted “using a mix of phone, street and online interviews.” Everything sounds good except for the part that says “street interviews”. Sounds kind of low-tech. (Here’s a picture from the CAG website, of someone seemingly using this low-tech survey approach. I wonder how many people they had to qualify in that actually used DVRs.)

Anyway, the results are interesting because they illuminate what lots of DVR users and analysts know already. It also points to what the future of TV may look like, as more and more people experience DVRs and TV on-demand.  As an analyst and DVR expert, I certainly enjoy these types of surveys, and I’ll have to read the entire report soon and report what I find.

In the mean time, some factoids I lifted from the press release:

Americans rank the DVR as the third most indispensable household item (62%), after the washing machine (97%) and the microwave oven (86%)

Americans rank the DVR as the second most essential household technology item they can’t live without (81%), beaten only by the mobile phone (92%)

3 out of 4 respondents with partners say that having a DVR makes for a happier home life

Bonus: Press Release here. Actual report PDF here.

Note to NDS: Indispensable is misspelled in the press release.

Over at alvear.com, I mentioned that that I’m conducting a research report on how Internet video can impact social change.

I’m inviting non-profits, independent filmmakers and other organizations interested in social change to discuss how people can widen their distribution (to DVDs, theaters, etc.) and how they can earn additional revenue.

If you’re involved in Internet video delivery or social change, I’d like to invite you to fill out this survey. Responses will be anonymous and I’ll be able to share top level results publicly.

As an incentive for participation, I am offering a $150 Kiva gift certificate to one random person. These certificates allow you to log in to Kiva.org and micro-lend money to entrepreneurs all around the world.

The survey will close on July 7th, 2008 and the winner will be contacted privately soon afterward.

Please contact me if you have any questions. Thanks!

According to a survey from British Music Rights, 80% of kids are willing to pay for a legal P2P system. The group surveyed U.K. youths aged 14-22 about their music habits–from uploading their own original songs, illegal downloads, and how they feel about digital music.

Young people today are already using P2P to get their music, so it makes sense that they are comfortable with using a legal P2P system. About 63% of respondents said that they download music using P2P file-sharing networks.

Unfortunately, there is no legal, pay P2P system available now. So kids are doing what they know: downloading lots of music illegally with P2P. The survey found that respondents had an average of 1770 tracks, of which half were downloaded illegally. They also share music by trading CDs, or copying music from their friends’ hard drives. Seems pretty hard for the RIAA to stop this kind of piracy, isn’t it?

Music labels should take a long look at this study. It shows how kids’ habits about digital music are much different than adults, simply because they’ve grown up with things like P2P, social media and the decline of CD sales. If they don’t heed what kids are already doing today, how can they hope to stay relevant in the future? Labels need to start realizing that their old business models are changing rapidly and they need to adapt with different business models.

Interestingly, the study found that 60% of young people would still purchase CDs. even with a legal file-sharing service. Primarily, that’s because they want to own something physical.

Some highlights:

• 90% of respondents own an MP3 player
• 58% have copied music from a friend’s hard drive to their own
• 95% said that they copy music in some way
• 42% have allowed P2P users to upload music from their computer.
• Money spent on live music exceeds that spent on recorded music

Bonus: Press release from BMR here.

Bonus #2: Article from Ars Technica.

The Nielsen Company released results on April’s Internet video consumption, and found that kids aged 2 to 11 view more videos than adults (51 streams per viewer vs. 44). Teens, however, were the most active Internet video consumers. They viewed 74 streams per viewer for an average of 132 minutes per viewer.

Younger kids consume big brands like Disney, Barbie and Nick Jr., while teens focus on music videos and movie sites like Buzznet, Bebo and Atlantic Records.

Since kids having been growing up with the Internet and online video, they are more accustomed to seek out content they want at home and are heavy users.

Overall, Nielsen’s monthly VideoCensus report for April 2008 found that YouTube was number one yet again with 73.5 million unique viewers and 4 billion total streams. All metrics that Nielsen is reporting have gone up.

• Unique viewers have gone up 3.7% from March 2008 to 120 million people.

• Total streams are up 9.3% at 7 billion.

• Streams per viewer are up 5.3% at 64 streams.

• Time per viewer is up 4.0% at 143 minutes.

Looks like Internet ad revenue is still growing and even outpacing traditional media. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, advertising revenues from 2007 were about $21.1 billion, which is up 25% over 2006’s $16.9 billion.

Technorati Tags: IAB, research, advertising, Internet advertising, Internet Advertising Bureau