The scene of the family huddled before a television set in their living room at a scheduled time to watch a favourite programme may be a thing of the past before long.

According to a Canadian research group, the television set is fated not to be the main medium people will use to watch movies, cartoons or ducumentaries. Already there are signs that younger viewers, aged between 18 and 39, are turning to on-demand TV shows and are viewing these not only on their computers but via DVR (digital video recorder), iPod, or VOD (video on demand).

The research firm, Solutions Research Group (SRG), says that within seven years, this generation probably will consume 80 per cent of its TV on-demand via media other than TV.

And TV stations had better take note to this behaviourial change.

Says Kaan Yigit, analyst with SRG in Canada, which released the report, Digital Life America: "We are in the very early stages, and what that means is the smart ones will have to adapt or try to adapt faster to what's happening now and will stop dismissing certain behaviors as marginal."

And once people are hooked on to online videos, they are unlikely to return to the TV set.

Mr Robin Hu, Executive Vice President of Singapore Press Holdings' Chinese Newspapers Division, concurred with this view.

He says: "While on a flight to Vancouver over X'mas last year, I saw a whole bunch of young adults glued to their iPod video catching up on missed episods of Lost, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. I was wondering why didn't they tune in to the many movies which are vailable on flight which I was enjoying.

"The answer is clear: Habits once changed, won't return. "

Mr Yigit sees a future where everything is non-linear, more or less, and everything is picked out to watch on any and all platforms.

That mindset will affect how networks plan and finance programmes and integrate advertisers into them. There will be more shows with "brought to you by" or "sponsored by" messages, Mr. Yigit said.

Indeed, when grouped together, on-demand viewing is not marginal at all - it's the wave of the future, he says. With the exception of perhaps 10 major TV events, such as the Super Bowl and the finale of a show like "American Idol," the new generation of TV viewers will be watching shows on-demand, with a remote or keyboard in hand.

Already, 50 per cent of adults 18 to 39 have watched TV shows on-demand online, on VOD or on a DVR or iPod on a monthly basis, according to the study. Five years ago virtually none of these viewing options existed.

"You give on-demand to people, no matter which way they do it, and they just flock to it," Mr. Yigit said. "It's all about saving time."

That's why 52 per cent of the study's respondents say they always skip ads when watching shows on DVR. They don't dislike ads; they'd simply rather gain another 10 to 15 minutes an hour. In fact, skipping ads and saving time appears to add to their TV viewing enjoyment, another reason VOD and DVR use will continue to rise, the study reports.

Consumers also are taking quickly to online viewing. Though TV networks have only started to offer their shows online regularly in the past year, already one-quarter of online Americans over the age of 12 - or about 45 million people - have streamed full TV shows at some point. And 10 percent of Americans have a TV show stored on their computer and 24 per cent have a show stored on a mobile device.

The study also revealed that about 33 per cent of respondents are watching videos longer than 10 minutes and 52 per cent are watching videos shorter than 10 minutes on the Internet. These findings suggest networks will continue to face more competition online from new content producers.

The younger generation will lead this massive viewing change in the next five years. Already 43 per cent of Americans aged 20 to 29 have streamed TV online. That's about twice the number of 40- to 50-year-olds who have.

Mr Yigit says it is possible that this new trend initiated by younger viewers might influence their parents to do the same over time.

He told networks to look at consumer behavior changes in the aggregate and not individually for each new medium.

"If I watch VOD on a Saturday night, it's really the same fundamental behaviour as downloading a movie for a 22-year-old. It's driven by the same general instinct," he says.