The phrase 'time shifted' television is what happens when people record their favorite shows onto a DVR and watch them later. In my household, it is probably fair to say that over 90% of television is time shifted and we skip the ads whenever possible. But, recent evidence suggests that this practice is not widespread.

In a CBS study, DVR users estimated that they time shift 40% of their TV viewing. In a similar TiVo study, customers estimated their time-shifted viewing at 32%. However, in the recent houston trial of Arbitron's portable people meters (PPMs), a passive media measurement tool, DVR households only time-shifted 9% of their TV viewing. The PPM study also showed time-shifted viewing varied by household member.

That tells me that advertisers have far less to fear from the wide-scale adaption of DVR's across America. The alternative possibility is that people in Houston don't know how to use their devices yet! (just kidding, Houstonians). But just in case, I checked at Amazon.com and did find a book called TiVo for Dummies
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Nielsen is already measuring time-shifted viewing in metered markets that don't use local people meters, or LPMs. On Dec. 26, Nielsen will begin rolling out its active-passive meters, which detect time-shifted viewing.