The performance of UPC TV Apps is a rare piece of good news in what are otherwise challenging times for the TV industry in Hungary.
Speaking at the OTTTV World Summit in London earlier this week, Arpi Jordan, CTO, UPC Central and Eastern Europe, gave an update on the performance of the cloud-based service in Hungary, where it was first trialed before being rolled out six months ago.
The stats are certainly impressive. Initially made available on 200,000 of the cable operator’s legacy (HD) set-top boxes, with a further 250,000 (SD) ones due to be added in the near future, it was found that over half of subscribers had accessed YouTube, with which UPC Hungary has partnered. Over half of those subscribers had become repeat visitors and the average viewing session lasted 45 minutes. Furthermore, subscribers were viewing one million minutes of YouTube content each day.
Although there was some confusion as to whether the above figures were current or as of September, it was subsequently clarified that a more recent figure of those accessing YouTube was 80%, with 80% of these returning for repeat views.
Perhaps an even more telling figure provided by Jordan was that the cost of what is effectively making any TV receiving UPC Hungary services ‘smart’ is less than one euro per set-top box.
Interestingly, this progress report on UPC TV Apps was followed shortly afterwards by an announcement in Hungary from the regulator NMHH that it has opened a public consultation into OTT.
Although OTT is at an early stage, certainly compared to larger and more mature CEE markets such as Poland and Russia, services are starting to appear. It therefore seems a wise decision to find some common consensus on how they should develop and be regulated in the future.
All in all, it’s been a much more positive week in Hungary, despite the ongoing dispute between RTL Group and government over the controversial new ad tax.
