It’s no secret that time-shifted-viewing devices such as TiVo and cable-company-supplied DVRs are a motorsport fan’s best friend. The ability to catch every race in a series and to pause and view highlights in slow motion are some of the best things to happen to racing on TV. Unfortunately, so is fast-forwarding through commercials.

This has advertisers worrying about the impact of, and eyeballs on, their ads. They seek out in-program exposure as a way to reach fans thinking less are seeing their commercials than a traditional live viewing of a broadcast.

But this is not necessarily the case with a concentrated group of hard-core fans like motorsports has. Not that they don’t fast forward through the commercials of taped broadcasts—they still do! But they watch them closely. They watch the commercial pod with intense concentration so that they can stop the fast-forward and hit the play button right as the race comes back on.

They are actually seeing the advertiser and the product, albeit in high speed. The viewer gets a far greater impression than in a live commercial break where they go out to get a snack or use the bathroom. And if there is an ad that interests the viewers, they stop their rapid progression through it and watch it—perhaps even replaying it for a family member later.

And advertisers can also play the system. Put powerful imagery or content in the first five and last five seconds of an ad. Then, demand that the ad runs at the beginning or end of a commercial pod. A DVR viewer sees the first few seconds of each ad leading into the commercial break and the last few seconds of an ad at the end of a commercial break. If there is a compelling-enough message there, the viewer will use the DVR to see the entire ad.

Another way to gain impact during a viewer’s fast forwarding is to slow down the ad. Ads in slow motion appear in real time, more or less, when watched during a fast forward episode. A motocross bike looks amazing going through a set of whoops in super slow motion. When viewed in fast forward, it still makes a strong visual impact.

With understanding of the DVR and how viewers use them, motorsports marketers and advertisers can strategically maintain and even increase the impressions they receive from traditional television commercial advertising.