Once a Pack Rat....

Always a pack rat.

So, I would bet almost everyone reading this has some sort of DVR by now?

If so, I have a theory....
If you are a physical pack rat you will automatically turn into a DVR pack rat.

The other day I made the switch from Direct TV to Cable, don't ask it's a long story.
Of course I didn't bother to clean off the old DVR before I shipped it back, but I was curious what was still on there.

Oprah - 8 episodes
American's Funniest Videos - 4 episodes
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - 5 episodes
Martha Speaks - 4 episodes
Summer Olympics 2008 - 15 hours
Mythbusters - 3 episodes
Prototype This - 3 episodes
Heroes - 8 episodes
Bagger Vance
Lady in the Water

This lead me to two conclusions -->

1. I didn't really need to watch any of those shows, because I so quickly threw them out the window with the old DVR.

2. The opportunity or intention of watching something is actually more important than actually watching it.

For example, my beautiful wife ( I love you honey) asked me to record the Golden Globes recently, which I did without hesitation.

My experiment is to see how long it remains on the DVR without being watched or deleted.

This experiment lead me to this question -->

At what point does a television program become interesting enough to record but not interesting enough to actually watch?

Professional sports events fit into this same category. I know several people who record their favorite team/athlete but never actually watch the event, since they most likely see the score the next day.

This lead me into another realization. -->
Once DVR data becomes public record, individual marketing could be massive.

In other words, it's obvious that recording habits are transmitted back to the parent company for marketing purposes but so far these are only for broad generalizations.

Imagine sitting down to watch last night's Americal Idol only to have some toothpaste ad flash up on your screen based on demographic data from your viewing habits.

Here's a related article about this from the famous Janet Jackson Superbowl.

Finally, for absolutely no reason at all, this lead me to this book -->