Virgin Media has surpassed one billion on demand views during 2011, delivering more views than the cablenet’s own expectations.
Having already predicted a significant increase in the number of programmes watched on demand, the final total came in at 1,004,447,198, an overall increase of 14% on 2010.
ITV’s Coronation Street was the most watched catch-up show, while The Vampire Diaries was the most popular complete series.
The figures are all the more surprising because they only include on demand content and not programmes that have been recorded locally on either the TiVo or V+ devices.
“Essentially people are watching more TV; whether that’s on demand, suggestions recorded for them, or as a result of new and exciting interactive experiences,” said Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media. “We know on demand is incredibly popular as it’s watched more than any channel except for BBC One or ITV1 but we far surpassed our expectations in 2011.”
TiVo was introduced by Virgin in 2011 and has eased Virgin subscribers ability to access on demand content. Research taken during the year found 88% of customer searches were for programmes outside BARB’s top 50. The number of TiVo customers doubled in Q4 with the cablenet closing the year with 435,000 TiVo customers, representing 12% of the installed base.
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