Social Media Can Hurt DVR Viewing

For live events and high involvement, edge of your seat viewing, it is harder and harder to watch them on a DVR on a delayed basis.  That is if you are also socially connected to sites like Twitter and Facebook.  So we are reminded in this story entitled "Game of Spoilers".  "The VCR, DVR and video on demand have freed us from the tyranny of TV schedules but the Internet imposes its own dictatorship — at least if the show is worth it. Raging at tweets for spilling the beans, or shouting "Shut up! I haven't watched it yet!" at your co-workers, proves increasingly futile."

Truth is, we have faced this issue for some time.  Want to watch a baseball or football game a few hours after the game may have already ended, don't check your Facebook feed.  But also don't turn on sports radio.  Want to watch the Oscars or last night's Tony Awards, stay away from Twitter as well as the next day's TV or newspaper.  Spoilers can get exposed at all times, especially for shows that knowing how it ends effects the enjoyment of the show itself.  Social media simply provides another means for revealing those spoilers.  And perhaps because it is so immediate and so pervasive, it is harder to ignore when we are delayed in viewing certain programming.

The article also correctly points out that not all shows possess the spoiler issue.  "Spoiling 'Big Bang Theory' is never an issue, says Thompson, even though its got a far larger audience than "Game of Thrones" — 18.68 million vs. 13.6 million, according to Nielsen."  Knowing its outcome doesn't hurt the comedy of the show. 

For advertisers hoping to keep their audience engaged and overcoming the other concern of the DVR, like fast forwarding through commercials, live and appointment viewing type programming can assure that a majority will watch at the immediate time and day the show is being presented.  And that means better ratings and higher ad revenue.