Do TiVo Users Love TV More than Dating?

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Technology innovations have helped our lives become more convenient, accessible and smarter in many ways. But technology can be detrimental to different parts of our lives, including social skills, privacy, security and love lives.

Yes, love lives. Technology has become the opposite of a motivating factor to get people out into the dating world for even one night. A recent survey from TiVo, Inc. found that almost half, 46 percent, of TiVo users would rather go one month without a date night than one month without being able to record their favorite TV programs on TiVo.

The benefit of using a system like TiVo is that users can do things, such as go on dates, and then watch their recordings whenever they want to, but I guess if there are no recordings to watch on-demand then they’re back to watching shows on prime time or eight days later online.

Unless your go-to date night is watching TV programs, it sounds like we’d have a lot of lonely couch potatoes out there.

"Our survey found that most couples (46 percent) merge their TV viewing habits and TV show preferences when they have access to DVR technology," said Tara Maitra, senior vice president, general manager Content & Media Sales at TiVo, in a statement. "Coincidentally, exactly half (50 percent) of consumers say they control their TV recordings."


Image via TechnoBuffalo

The survey also found that current TV is highly reflective of real-life love. Forty-three percent of respondents feel their current romantic situation is most like ABC’s “Happy Endings,” a comedy about six dysfunctional thirty-something friends living in Chicago, Don Draper from AMC's "Mad Men" is the TV character who respondents most closely associated their own love lives with (32 percent), followed by Hannah Horvath of HBO's "Girls" (31 percent) – and PBS’ “Downton Abbey” is TiVo user’s choice for most romantic show.

TV viewers who use a generic DVR selected ABC’s “The Bachelor/The Bachelorette” as the most romantic show.

This isn’t unlike another study that correlated technology and personal love lives. Researchers at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business previously said Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites are more addicting and tempting than sex and cigarettes. The study measured German subjects’ from ages 18 to 85 desires and urges, rating them from “strong” to “irresistible.” Resisting temptation to hit Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites was harder to resist than other urges people encountered, such as smoking, drinking, spending money, sleeping and sex.

For seven consecutive days, 250 participants identified yearnings to interact through tweets, photos and comments as the most difficult stimulant to turn down.

Earlier this year, TiVo unveiled its annual report on ad viewing habits, revealing what commercial advertisements users are watching, rewinding and fast-forwarding during 2012. Brands were evaluated with respect to how well their ads resonated with TiVo service subscribers and measured by their inclination to watch, rewind or fast-forward through the brands' spots during time-shifted viewing. The report found LG to be the top electronics provider for ads, beating Samsung and Panasonic HDTV ads with an average of 30 percent more viewings, and ranked Verizon Wireless as the No. 1 company in the wireless telecom category.




Edited by Braden Becker
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TechZone360 Web Editor

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