Time- Shifting
What Is Time-Shifting?
Time-shifting is nothing new. In fact, time-shifting has been around as long as people
have recorded information. Time-shifting is simply the act of viewing or listening to a
piece of media some point after it originally occurred. You could even argue that this
article allows the author to time-shift his thoughts so that you can read them later.
For years now a television viewer with patience could program a VCR and record live
television to view at a later date. What’s new, however, is a blitz of game-changing
technology, redefining consumer expectations and making time-shifting a central feature
of media consumption. Put simply, technology is no longer a limitation.
In over 10% of households, the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) is promoting media
anarchy. DVRs have taken the key attributes of VCRs and made the experience easier
to use, with higher quality and the ability to view a program that has not even finished
recording yet.
As an indication of proliferation, the DVR poster child, Tivo, is now in our vernacular as a
verb (for example, I Tivoed
Scrubs last night). Add into this technology madness:digital cable video-on-demand (VOD); the video iPod, with its enhanced timeshifting
attributes, which encourage media mobility; hybrid devices like the
Archos DVR or the Sony PlayStation Portable, which recently included an
RSS capture ability into the latest firmware. With these new-fangled
technologies flooding the market, you have an epidemic of playing, pausing,
and fast-forwarding. The biggest impact, however, is the
Internet. Already blurry, the line between content-on-demand and timeshifted
content is going away. The accumulation of online video files and
the 2005 crossover into a mainly broadband-ready user base has
created a whole new market for forerunners like Major League
Baseball Advanced Media, Apple’s iTunes, and video aggregator
YouTube. As an example of this technology collision, Cablevision recently announced that it will rollout a
“remote storage” DVR service – a perfect mix of one part time-shifted and one part on-demand.
Just in time, the major networks and studios are also diving into the game. Google and
Viacom’s MTV announced a courtship, while AOL is bringing Time Warner’s top content
into its recently launched video portal, which features nearly 50 channels and many fulllength
features. Similarly, Fox Entertainment Group announced is beginning to channel
content through its oversized baby brother MySpace.
As on-demand server-based content accumulates and wireless access proliferates,
personal video and audio recording devices may simply prove to be gap technologies.
Behaviors Among Time-Shifting Consumers
Today’s technologies are saving the marriages of NFL fanatical husbands and
Desperate Housewives, worrying traditional advertisers and ensuring that new parents
do not have to watch Ronco infomercials during 3:00 AM feedings. With even more
impact, children in the prime Saturday morning cartoon demographic are holding the
controller or mouse and vowing to never watch a single commercial – they are not going
to revert to the “old way.”
“Must see TV” is no longer a three-hour prison sentence. Now around the water cooler,
people are now checking, saying “Who has seen
Lost this week? Everyone? Okay, wecan talk freely.”
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