In a startling admission on how much DVR’s have altered our television viewing habits NBC Nightly News is now running promotional ads encouraging viewers to time-shift the news.

From the New York Times

Of all the news commercials on the networks this year, one running this fall for “NBC Nightly News” might be the most unorthodox. In it, the anchor Brian Williams recommends that people record the 6:30 p.m. newscast if they will not be home in time to watch live.

“I just thought it was high time to acknowledge, in our ‘Nightly News’ promos, the way we live,” Mr. Williams wrote by e-mail.

As the commercial indicates, the television industry is changing its attitude toward digital video recorders, from foe to almost-friend.

For “Nightly News,” the top-rated evening network newscast, the DVR is a chance to retain viewers or even add them in a time slot that has suffered for decades because of shifting audience habits.

“A growing number of viewers tell me they time-shift the news,” Mr. Williams wrote. “Loyal viewers used to say ‘we watch you every night.’ These days, an increasing number make a point of saying ‘We RECORD you every night.’ ”

That demonstrates “an even more active and affirmative effort on their part,” Mr. Williams said. “That’s how much they feel the need for a network evening newscast in their life, at the end of the day, with no shortage of other media options.”

Not surprisingly, most people who watch “Nightly News” via the DVR do so quickly, lest the news go stale.

On any night this year, about eight million people watch “Nightly News” at its appointed time, while about 370,000 people watch it on a DVR. Of those 370,000, about 320,000 watch in what the Nielsen Company calls the same day, before 2 a.m. (Nielsen reports DVR playback only for seven days after a broadcast.) The other major network newscasts also benefit from DVRs, though not as much. Second-place “World News” on ABC has gained about 200,000 viewers each night this year from DVR playback, and the “CBS Evening News” has gained roughly 125,000 viewers each night.

Nearly half of the newscast viewers gained via DVR are in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic, a positive sign for the networks because the news programs skew heavily toward the 55-and-up demographic.

Using a DVR  has become part and parcel of most Americans’ lives whether or not they are using a Tivo brand machine or one supplied by their cable company.  But the  network news shows shouldn’t get their hopes up too high that they will be able to expand their audience by pushing the DVR option.  At best those that do decide to record the news will probably be more than offset by those that stop watching the news altogether so it will only mitigate their long decline.

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