Video On Demand (VOD) at just 16.5 minutes per month is still is tiny compared to live TV viewing, and even DVR TV viewing. And only 47% of set top boxes that could access VOD used it during the month of July. I have long thought that the combination of cable companies and networks have been dropping the ball on the VOD opportunity via set top boxes. It’s still not too late, but based on past efforts, I don’t expect it gets big anytime soon.
Here is the press release:
July Is The Hottest Month To Date For Video-On-Demand
–July Delivers More Than 655 Million Transactions* Surpassing June 2009 By 11%–
PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Rentrak Corporation (NASDAQ:RENT) , a leader in multi-screen media measurement serving the entertainment and advertising industries, reported today that July eclipsed the previous video-on-demand (VOD) viewing record set last month, delivering a 19% year-to-year increase in overall VOD transactions and a 15% increase in the number of unique set-top-boxes (STB) accessing OnDemand.** The average minutes per day spent watching VOD increased and the percent of VOD enabled STBs accessing OnDemand content increased to 47% in July.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090901/SF69093)
Total Free On Demand transactions soared to a record 476 million* in July. Music-related content lead the category with 146 million transactions* or 31% of all Free On Demand transactions according to Rentrak’s industry-leading OnDemand Essentials service.
June-to-July VOD highlights include:
-- The TV Entertainment category had its strongest month of the year with
an 18% increase
-- Free On Demand Music transactions increased by 17%
-- Free On Demand Kids transactions were up by 10%
-- Overall Subscription On Demand offerings saw a 10% increase in total
transactions
Custom reporting and more information about VOD trends and seasonal usage patterns can be accessed by visiting the Rentrak homepage at www.rentrak.com and clicking on the “Television” link.
*Combination of views and orders as reported by MSO partners **Like system comparison About OnDemand Essentials
OnDemand Essentials, a service of Rentrak’s Advanced Media & Information Division, provides operators, content providers (including broadcast/cable networks, studios) and advertisers with a transactional tracking and reporting system to view and analyze on-demand content. The product is an extension of Rentrak’s Essentials suite of business intelligence products customized for the entertainment industry. OnDemand Essentials clients have password protected, near real-time, Web browser-based 24/7 access to on-demand consumer usage data at various access levels based on business and privacy rules. A sophisticated toolset aggregates and reports data across multiple vendors in one easy to use report system. Clients using the OnDemand Essentials system are able to instantly analyze and interpret their own business data to identify trends, program and promote more effectively, as well as track their performance against the broader business sector in which they operate.
About Rentrak Corporation
Rentrak Corporation is an industry-advancing media measurement and research company, serving the most recognizable names in the entertainment industry. Reaching across numerous platforms including box office, home entertainment, on-demand and linear television, broadband and mobile, Rentrak provides unique and actionable insight for our clients and partners. From the introduction of our revolutionary Pay-Per-Transaction distribution and revenue-sharing system, which equipped Rentrak with the intelligence and ability to deal with large, complex data streams, to the company’s exclusive Essentials(TM) suite of services, Rentrak has redefined digital audience measurement. Rentrak is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with additional offices in Los Angeles, New York City and Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale. For more information on any of Rentrak’s services, please visit www.rentrak.com.
I wish we could have a study done on the impact of Video On Demand at large, but recorded in a more methodical way. Sure, it sounds great to give a large number that represents every time someone accidentally hit the “On Demand” button on the top of their Comcast remote (once a week for me probably), but that’s not really useful, is it?
I’d like some kind of sample of how many people have taught their kids how it works, or taught their parents how it works. I guess things like that all fall under your “dropping the ball” blanket, Bill.
What I’d really like to see, would be some kind of experiment related to putting something on there the way that you’d watch it on Hulu or even regular TV, with no fast forward feature, to see how people use it.
What kind of numbers could you get if you took True Blood’s first season, added in some commercials, and put it on the free section of On Demand. How about just the previous night’s American Idol or something? “Did you miss it? Forget to record it? Here it is!”
I guess, though, that those suggestions are silly because we have to assume that everyone with On Demand has a DVR, and if they’re not recording a show, then they’re not going to want to watch it On Demand anyway.
The more people pull up free, wonderful, effective tools like XBMC (http://xmbc.org) and get the plugin, the better.
I used to download Royal Pains- it’s online, so now I won’t. I can watch it at any time. Think I’m alone? People still using Windows get badgered by posioned P2P and can’t get the shows when they want to watch it. But make it available at will, and P2P will drop off in large and important ways!
I don’t own a TV. And I keep hearing that from people. We’re sick of the old style, and want to watch what, and when, we want to watch it. PLEASE FEEL FREE to insert ads like those for Saab on Burn Notice. They’re effective and don’t get in the way. Just don’t force me to be distracted 10 times an hour with the exact same 30-second spot.
The networks can pull this off…they just have to WANT to. It’s worthless to have a gallery of ‘clips’. No one will watch them. Full episodes, or don’t. I’ve waited a long time to watch TV on the net; it’s almost here, now.
And get a look at XBMC! It’s for Linux, Mac, and Windows, as well as the Xbox from which it came! Good, good stuff!
When will Damages be back for a new season? Thank you