Recent figures suggest that Virgin Media has boosted BBC iPlayer usage after making it available on its cable TV network last May. According to the first figures released by Virgin Media, its customers made more than 10 million requests to watch BBC programmes in June.Malcolm Wall, the chief executive of content at Virgin Media, told the Guardian that the figures underlined the "continued success of our on-demand offering".
The BBC iPlayer, which was released to all UK internet users at Christmas 2007, achieved more than 20 million viewings in June with an average of 1.5 million weekly users. Previously only accessible on computers, approximately 3.5 million Virgin Media cable TV subscribers can now enjoy more than 350 hours of BBC content on their TV screens and they now account for a third of all programme viewings on the BBC iPlayer.
In the last week of June we also saw the BBC rolling out version 2.0 of the iPlayer, with improved streaming quality, more personalisation options and a focus on usability and an enhanced user experience.
Streaming traffic has increased massively in the last two years and now it stands for nearly 10% of total web traffic, with Google's YouTube alone averaging 6.5% of traffic. This week, the CNN network reported a 250% rise in the number of online video viewings after revamping their website.
TV broadcasters are starting to see web streaming as an opportunity to expand their foothold in the media market rather than as a threat to their shares. The US network CBS recently provided more evidence to support the theory that streaming full-length episodes of primetime programmes is mostly beneficial to broadcast networks and does little to threaten TV viewing as a whole.
Delivering TV programmes on websites allows TV networks to capture new viewer segments, gather more analytic information about users and open new opportunities for personalized advertisement and recent viewing figures suggest that embracing streaming technology certainly isn't losing any of the big players any fans.
