TiVo Research has released data indicating that time-shifting by viewers of 10 broadcast TV primetime programs to between 4-7 days following their initial airing resulted in approximately $88 million in total lost ad revenue by their respective networks (see chart below).

For these 10 programs, TiVo found that the 4-7 day period increased ratings between 4.1% ("American Idol") to 10.9% ("Modern Family"). Because "American Idol" had the highest average number of ads per episode (61), it had the highest level of lost ad revenue in the 4-7 day period for the full season ($14.4 million). Conversely, "The Good Wife," which had an average of 29 ads per episode, but had the second-lowest 4-7 day ratings increase, had the  lowest level of lost ad revenue ($3.6 million).

TiVo believes the research underscores the need for second-by-second viewing data for the full 7-day period following a program's airing in order to understand the full commercial ratings of a program.

The TiVo research adds to data from Rentrak that Colin and I discussed on last Friday's podcast, revealing that 66% of viewing of broadcast primetime programs on demand occurred after the C3 window.  Between DVR and VOD time-shifting, it's becoming increasingly clear that changes in viewership patterns are causing networks to miss out on fully monetizing their viewership. All of this is further evidence of how technology is continuing to move faster than traditional business models.

The TiVo research covered the period September, 2012 to August, 2013 and excluded network promo ads and PSA. TiVo used ad rates from SQUAD LLC. The viewing behavior was pulled from a sample of 350K TiVo homes.