Virgin Media tops 1bn video on-demand views in 2011

Virgin Media has today announced that its customers consumed more than one billion video on-demand views in 2011, enough content for a single person to watch non-stop for 56,000 years.

The exact total of on-demand programme views over the 12 months was 1,004,447,198, according to Virgin, up 14% on 2010. Cable TV customers sat down to watch a total of approximately 490 million hours of on-demand shows last year.

ITV1's Coronation Street was the most popular catch-up programme on Virgin Media, and The Vampire Diaries was the most popular complete series.

Virgin Media also said that its converged TV service powered by US DVR giant TiVo is now changing viewing habits around on-demand programmes.

The service, which doubled its customer base in the final quarter of the year, combines live TV, on-demand and internet services in an integrated platform.

Research from Virgin Media indicates that 88% of customer searches on TiVo were for programmes outside the top 50 TV shows, according to BARB viewing data.

The cable operator said that the advanced search and recommendation engine in TiVo is helping to "bring new and niche content to the awareness of wider audiences".

TiVo customers on average store 90 recordings on their set top box, which comes with either 500GB or 1TB capacity. The stored programmes are roughly split equally between recordings set by the customers and those saved and recommended by TiVo itself.

Customers are also using the TiVo thumbs on the remote control to 'like' or 'dislike' shows eight million times a month on average.

"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, the 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. We've led the development of on-demand and we're now doing the same with TiVo, which takes the entertainment experience to another level."

She added: "The TV world is changing, with TiVo's powerful functionality and ease of use giving people even more control over what they watch and when.

"The advocacy we're seeing from users is vociferous with over half telling us they're recommending the service to their friends and family. Together with the UK's fastest widely available broadband, Virgin Media is putting the power of the digital world in the hands of our customers."

However, Virgin Media caused controversy last week after announcing a forthcoming 66% price hike in the monthly subscription cost of TiVo for new customers.