The amount of time viewers spent watching free video-on-demand (VOD) broadcast primetime television content rose 24 percent year-over-year in 2013. Overall, viewers spent a total of 4.4 billion hours watching VOD content last year, according to the latest “Rentrak State of VOD: Trend Report 2013.”
An average 43.3 million televisions worldwide accessed VOD content with viewers watching on-demand content 16-18 days on average each month, spending an average 8.7 hours per month doing so.
According to Rentrak, “ More than ever before, today’s television viewers are taking advantage of the convenience of Free-on-Demand to catch-up on their favorite shows and discover new programming on their own schedule. As consumer preferences continue to evolve with technology, the widespread availability of On Demand content will continue to spur advertising growth and opportunity for years to come.”
Rentrak found that 66 percent of Broadcast Primetime program viewing occurred after the third-day of original viewing, “providing the opportunity to generate untold millions in additional advertising dollars for VOD.”
Divided into Free on Demand, Subscription Video on Demand, and Transactional on Demand sections, additional highlights from the “Rentrak State of VOD: Trend Report 2013” include:
- Cable Networks: Two-thirds of viewing occurred after the third day of the content’s original airing
- Transactional Movies on Demand: Generated $1.5 billion
“The consumer is utilizing the VOD button on their remote in a bigger way than ever, and TV networks have responded with their best programming,” Rentrak CEO and vice chairman Bill Livek was quoted as saying. “I believe, with Rentrak’s tools, TV networks will be able to tap into untold millions of dollars in revenue through the VOD platform.”
