US VOD broadcast primetime viewing up 24%

The total time spent viewing video on-demand television content in the broadcast primetime category increased 24% year on year in 2013, according to new US research from Rentrak.

Rentrak’s State of VOD: Trend Report, which includes five years of VOD analysis, revealed that an average of 43.3 million US televisions accessed VOD content in 2013 with almost nine hours of time spent viewing per month.

The total time spent viewing all VOD content was 4.4 billion hours, up 3% year on year, with the TV entertainment category seeing a 17% increase in time spent viewing.

The report also revealed a significant amount of time-shifted viewing, with 66% of broadcast primetime programme viewing occurring after the third day of its airing.

“The consumer is utilising the VOD button on their remote in a bigger way than ever, and TV networks have responded with their best programming,” said Bill Livek, chief executive officer and vice chairman of Rentrak.

“I believe, with Rentrak’s tools, TV networks will be able to tap into untold millions of dollars in revenue through the VOD platform.”