Do people fast-forward TV advertising when they can?
Andrew GreenZenithOptimedia
BACKGROUND
Remote control devices to operate television sets came into widespread use in the early 1980s alongside VCRs – though both technologies had been introduced much earlier.
In combination with massively increased choice of viewing material, they have helped shift the balance of power from professional schedulers towards viewers.
More recently, Personal Video Recorders, enabling people to time-shift programmes without the need for tapes or engineering degrees have made the process easier. Viewers always found VCRs hard to use: a US study suggested that only half of all programmes...