How do you know if you’re a wait-watcher?
If you’ve ever recorded “Desperate Housewives” on Sunday, then watched it on Thursday, you’re a wait-watcher.
If you’ve ever rented a season’s worth of “24” and watched all 24 episodes over the course of a weekend, you’re a wait-watcher.
If you’ve ever taken five hours to watch a three-hour baseball game, then you’re a wait-watcher.
And if you’re a wait-watcher, you’re not alone.
The booming popularity of TV shows on DVD–a $3 billion business this year–and digital video recorders like TiVo are changing the way Americans watch TV. Instead of rushing home to see their favorite programs, more and more are setting their own schedules and watching what they want, when they want it, how they want.
And with Apple’s unveiling Wednesday of its video-enabled iPod–whose owners will be able to download “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” episodes–people can now take their shows on the road.
Wait-watching has spawned a new set of rules.
Leiah Rodekuhr has several friends who are wait-watchers and has learned how to deal with them. She faces the wrath of her TiVo-using friends unless she adheres to a simple rule: Don’t speak about the show before spoken to.
“I have one friend who TiVos several shows and then watches them on the weekends,” said Rodekuhr, a 33-year-old Lincoln Square “Lost” fan. “I always call her like I did today, ‘Did you watch?’ And if she says ‘yes,’ we talk about it. If she says ‘no,’ I’m like, ‘You have to watch it so we can talk about it.’ “
Rodekuhr intentionally didn’t watch the most recent season of “Nip/Tuck.” When the second season came out on DVD, she watched all 15 episodes in three days.
“It killed me to have to wait,” she said. But “I waited … and watched the whole season on DVD.”
TiVo isn’t the only technology that is turning millions of TV viewers into wait-watchers.
Now that entire seasons of TV shows are on DVD, people are willing to wait months–or even years–before catching up.
Jamie Zurliene, a 20-year-old DePaul student, missed the first season of “Nip/Tuck.” But she and her boyfriend ordered it through Netflix and watched several episodes over one weekend.
“We’ll just Netflix it, and we’ll get the whole Season 1 and watch that in like two days,” Zurliene said.
Marama Platt is both a short-term and a long-term wait-watcher. She TiVos several shows a week, watching them on weekends. She borrowed the first season of “Arrested Development,” which finished more than a year ago, and watched it over a weekend.
“I liked the instant gratification of watching everything right then,” Platt said.
The only program Platt, 29, absolutely must watch on the night it airs is “Lost,” which she says is too popular to avoid hearing plot twists. She discovered this the night of the “Lost” season premiere when her cable went out. The next morning she woke up and heard the radio host she listens to give away the big secret.
“I still listen” to the radio, said Platt, of Edgewater. “I just make sure I watch ‘Lost’ on Wednesdays.”
Eric Ferguson, co-host of the “Eric and Kathy” show on WTMX-FM 101.9, understands what Platt and others go through. He has several DVRs in his house and often can’t find time to see everything he has recorded.
Realizing how viewer habits have changed, Ferguson tries to accommodate those in his audience who may not have seen shows he wants to talk about it. He’ll give a spoiler alert when a key part of a show is being discussed, but that’s as far as he’ll go.
“We give fair warning, but I don’t think there’s any reason to wait on talking about it several days to let the TiVo generation catch up,” Ferguson said.
Ultimately, Platt has found that being a TiVo owner–and a wait-watcher–has led her to watch more TV. But it allowed her to schedule her TV watching, which has given her more free time than ever.
“Last year before I had TiVo … I wouldn’t make plans so I could watch ‘Lost,’ ” Platt said. “Now I can have a life.”
As viewers skip, ads find new homes
With DVRs allowing viewers to skip commercials, advertisers are finding new ways to reach consumers.
“It’s quite clear with TiVo and time-shifting that everyone’s worried that no one’s watching the ads,” said Tom Weeks, entertainment director for Starcom USA, a media strategy and investment firm.
According to Starcom’s research, there are 11 million households with DVRs and 22 million with video-on-demand capabilities. Advertisers are accepting that consumers are in control of how and when they watch programs, whether it’s on DVR, on demand, broadband or on cell phones, said Tracy Scheppach, Starcom’s video innovation director.
One method to reach viewers who skip commercials is through product placement, which can be a can of pop in a sitcom or a rotating sign behind home plate at Wrigley Field.
“We’re going to learn to put ads in their proper places,” Scheppach said.
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TiVo’s most-recorded shows
Week ending Oct. 9
1. “Desperate Housewives”
2. “Lost”
3. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”
4. “The Apprentice”
5. “Survivor: Guatemala”
Top TV shows on DVD
Year-to-date through Sept. 17
– “Chappelle’s Show: Season 2” ($70 million)
– “The Sopranos: Season 5,” ($34.1 million)
– “Seinfeld: Season 4,” ($30.2 million)
– “Friends: Season 9,” ($29.3 million)
– “Lost: Season 1,” ($25.9 million)
SOURCES: TIVO, DVD EXCLUSIVE
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jgreenfield@tribune.com
