UPC TV Apps has proved to be a success in Hungary, the market in which it was developed and first launched.
Speaking at the OTTV World Summit, Arpi Jordan, CTO Central and Eastern Europe, Liberty Global, said that the service, which employs Cloud TV technology from ActiveVideo, has already been accessed by around 200,000 of the (legacy) set-top boxes on which it is available.
He added that it would be made available on the additional 250,000 boxes in the near future.
Jordan also said that more than 50% of subscribers have used the service to access YouTube, with which UPC Hungary has partnered. This was higher than expected and has led to the introduction of a new UI.
More than 50% of subscribers have become repeat visitors and the average session length is over 45 minutes. Furthermore, one million watching minutes per day have been reached.
Asked about the business model, Jordan said it was not envisioned as a value added (premium) service but as a free part of a bundle helping the cable operator reduce churn.
It is an efficient technology gap filler and costs a fraction of what a set-top box itself would.
