Hallmark Channel Study: Generation Gap in TV-Technology Use

Millward Brown Research Finds that Millennials Are Much More Comfortable with DVRs, VOD, Broadband Video than Baby Boomers

By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/26/2008 12:48:00 PM

According to a study commissioned by Hallmark Channel and conducted by market-research firm Millward Brown, there is a generational gap when it comes to the use of TV technology such as digital-video recorders, video-on-demand and broadband video.

While the results were not surprising, they provided hard numbers on a subject of key importance to the television industry. According to Hallmark, while a generational gap was expected, the extent to which it applied was very surprising.

"The results from the study are eye-opening, with strong implications for the television industry," Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel senior vice president of research Jess Aguirre said. "We had expected a generational gap in the media marketplace between boomers and millennials, but we didn't expect the results to be so significant."

According to the study, only 31% of millennials (primarily 18-34) find new television technologies such as DVR and VOD services difficult to use, compared with 55% of baby boomers (primarily 35-64).

Likewise, when using a DVR, millennials are far more likely to skip through commercials or flip through channels, 87% total.

When it comes to the Web, millennials are far more likely to view videos online, with 27% watching broadband video regularly compared with only 9% of baby boomers.

Boomers, however, are more affluent than their younger counterparts, and 61% said it does not pay to be loyal to one brand, making them an attractive target to advertisers that might have earlier shunned the demo.