May 30, 2008

Americans Love Their Video On Demand: Rentrak

ResumeViewingOption_1(2).jpg First quarter video-on-demand viewing skyrocketed in the first quarter of 2008, up 59% from last year's Q1. The 185 million VOD hours viewed in Q1 2008 were definitely partly a result of a 36% increase to more than 70, 000 titles. The data, compiled by Rentrak Corporation from 51 million American set-top boxes, also revealed that viewing of free on-demand TV shows doubled, subscription VOD viewing grew 41% and transactional viewing rose 11%. Cable and satellite providers have been pushing VOD hard in the last year or so as they compete to offer more on-demand programming. Comcast is one name that comes to mind with their Project Infinity which is pushing out on-demand titles like crazy this year, including those in high definition. In fact, HD VOD looks to be huge in the next few years judging by consulting firm Oliver Wyman's forecast that it'll generate somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion in consumer spending by 2010.

Via Video Business