Watching YouTube videos on TV screens with UPC TV Apps service has quickly become popular among the customers of UPC Hungary.
YouTube viewing minutes have exceeded a total of one million per day in the first three months since the introduction of UPC TV Apps.
Following the first phase of the rollout, the company will continue the developments to enable all UPC digital cable TV households to enjoy online content on TV by the end of the year.
Introduced at the end of May this year, UPC TV Apps provides access to various online content through the TV screen via applications, even without internet subscription. The new implementation of the cloud-based technology from ActiveVideo allows customers to use their existing HD set-top boxes and UPC remotes to enter the world of online content.
More than half of UPC customers with HD boxes have started using this new service in the first three months already. Out of more than 20 applications available so far, the one providing access to billions of YouTube videos has proven to be the most popular.
The vast majority of the users show high interest in accessing YouTube on TV as approximately three-quarter of them are repeat visitors, reaching a landmark of more than 1 million viewing minutes a day overall.
The relatively long time, 45 minutes on average per session, spent with YouTube videos, as well as the aggregated viewing patterns indicate that the new service is a valued addition that complements well the TV viewing experience in most of the customers’ homes.
“At UPC Hungary, we partnered with YouTube and app providers to go where no cable operator has gone before, using customers’ existing set-top boxes and our managed cable network to deliver YouTube as part of a cloud-based app store,” wrote Arpi Jordan, CTO of UPC, CEE Region, in a blog
“Three months, hundreds of thousands of customers and thousands of hours of YouTube viewing later, here’s what we’re finding and why it’s important: approximately 50% of the available subscriber base has accessed YouTube via the STB; >50% of those who have accessed YouTube via their STBs have become repeat visitors; and Peak YouTube viewing times are complementary to linear television’s primetime hours.
“That last point bears some additional discussion. YouTube viewing on our STB platform begins to rise from overnight lows in the waking hours, then remains remarkably consistent throughout the day until the usual prime time viewing hours in the evening. Moreover, because the YouTube streams are using existing VOD bandwidth allocations, impact on our network is low — even during peak YouTube viewing hours.”
Severina Pascu, CEO of UPC Hungary commented: “We are delighted with the success of the very first implementation of bringing YouTube to existing cable set-top boxes with Cloud TV technology. We will continue the rollout of this service on an even larger scale, as well as to further extend the TV viewing experience, answering the newly emerging customer needs to access any content any time on any device.”
