According to Disney/ABC, "people watching television shows on video recorders sit through a similar number of commercials as those watching live." And their President of ABC Entertainment, Paul Lee, noted that the numbers watching are equivalent to those that watch the same shows live. Interesting perspective although I wonder if this is being said out of hope or reality. The article doesn't include statistics to back up his statement.
In my family, depending on who is watching DVR programming determines whether the fast forward button is pressed or not. For my wife and I, we are quick to retrieve the remote to skip ahead to the content. It seems with less time available to relax and watch TV, those precious minutes shouldn't be wasted on commercials. But with my kids, it is a different story. Once the show is selected to be watched through the DVR, the remote goes untouched. Commercials don't bother them; in fact, it is how they gain new wants. "As seen on TV" equates to I want that.
Perhaps too, it is laziest that most determines whether the DVR commercials get skipped or not. While they might not reach over to the coffee table to press the button, they will scream for a parent to do the "chore" for them. And so it goes untouched and the commercials play on.
And so I will surmise that for advertisers on kid oriented programming, your commercials are more likely viewed than for adult viewership. But as TVs become more web connected and voice control will bypass the remote, we may see more of us raising our voices to the TV to say "Siri, skip ahead past commercials."
