The Rise Of The PVR: Painfully Slow. New Technology Adoption Is Slow

Never be fooled. Things always take a lot longer to change than you think they will – particularly where the mass adoption of a new technology is concerned.

The PVR lesson
When I started writing about TiVo back in 2001, I saw “PVR’s are a vital piece in the jigsaw.”

As soon as the UK price of TiVos dropped to a more reasonable £150, from their previously lofty £400, about nine months after my first TiVo post, I wrote up my impressions of what it was like to live with TiVo for a few months, concluding …

After TiVo I hardly every watch live TV these days and it’s leading me to widen my viewing as I’ll record something and take a quick preview of the show to see if it’s the same as described and enjoyable.

Truth was – and is – once anyone has used a PVR, there’s no going back to imagining what life would be like without one. (Unless you stop watching broadcast TV as I did three years back :) ).

Back in March 2003, we even had stats telling us that 83% of those survyed said they were ‘either “Extremely satisfied” or “Very satisfied” with their PVR.’

The Revolution will be … delayed
With all of that PVR were going to go completely bonkers right? 2004 was going to be the year the PVR took over.

But it didn’t. Nor did it in 2005, or 2006, 2007.

But the PVR’s growth in the UK was slow and steady – aided hugely by Sky simplifiying what PVRs were, by choosing to call them Sky +. Sky then went on a marketing spree pushing PVRs into people homes across the UK.

Fast forward to today
Today we hear that the UK has – only now – got to the point where 35% of broadband households in the UK own a PVR!

It might be the highest in Europe, but it’s trailing the US, where the comparative figure is 40%.

No matter what anyone tells you – Don’t be fooled, the general consumer will drag their feet no matter how much better their lives would be if they changed their behaviour.