VOD - The wild west of audience measurement

ACB Conference - 7th July 2009

In May 2009, The Inbetweeners was viewed

2.5 million timesMaking it our fastest

downloadedPC VOD programme

Source – C4 Business Objects May 2009

940

270 252

442

327

135

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

E4 1st Tx E4 +1 1st Tx Repeats Recorded PC VoD TV VoD

000's

Tearing up the research rule book and putting VOD into context

Source – BARB and Business Objects.

The Inbetweeners – Series 2 Average

The reality is Inbetweeners is C4’s best example of an extreme VOD “outlier”

Channel 4’s top 10 progs in May

On-line views in May

Shameless 651,000

Desperate Housewives 601,000

Embarrassing Bodies 301,000

Madeline was here: Cutting Edge

46,000

Come Dine With Me 554,000

Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares 266,000

The Secret Millionaire 76,000

Kirstie’s Homemade Home 93,000

Hollyoaks 782,000

Gok’s Fashion Fix 202,000

Top 3 PC VOD = Drama

Bottom 3 PC VOD = Factual

Source – C4 Business Objects May 2009

General insights about VOD behaviour based on actual data

• Research needs to be sensitive to the genre mix and preferred viewing environment

• On demand viewing is driven by a set of key genres

Drama, comedy, entertaining factual

Importance of Drama

• 31% of PC VOD downloads in May 2009 were drama

• 34% of TV VOD transactions in May 2009 were drama

• BARB data shows that drama is the most time shifted genre in homes with a PVR– 38% of drama viewing is timeshifted– Increased proportion year on year

Source – BARB and Business Objects.

10

11

28

29

30

36

7

10

28

30

29

38

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

News

Sport

Documentaries

Drama singles

Hobbies/Leisure

Drama series/serials

% time shifting by genres: top 4 and bottom 2 genres

2008

2007

Source – BARB Sky + homes, individuals, all day %

Drama is the most time shifted genre in Sky+ homes and continues to increase

General insights about VOD behaviour based on actual data

• Research needs to be sensitive to the genre mix and preferred viewing environment

• On demand viewing is driven by a set of key genres

Drama, comedy, entertaining factual

• Programming is skewed toward young and upmarket content, although genre plays more of an influence

• Consumption is driven by recency

Importance of Recency

• PVR trends- 2008: 49% of time shifted viewing is VOSDAL- Over time proportion of VOSDAL is increasing

- TV VOD trends- Early BARB data shows 50% of TV VOD viewing

(Virgin) is within 24 hours of broadcast- 72% of C4 TV VOD (Virgin) is “Catch up”

16

19

21

26

28

32

51.0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Fit programme around work life

Fit programme around social life

Nothing good on when I watch TV

Allows me to watch TV on my laptop

Watch a programme recommended by friends/family

Regularly miss/unable to watch my favourite programmes asscheduled on normal TV

Catch up on my favourite programmes

% agreeing the main reasons for watching TV programmes on the internet

Source – Essential Research November 2008

On-line VOD users and the importance of recency

26

31

31

44

61

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Good selection of sociable programmes

Better programmes than normal TV

Nothing good on when I watch TV

Regularly miss/unable to watch my favourite programmes asscheduled on normal TV

Catch up on my favourite programmes

% agreeing the main reasons for watching TV programmes on TV on demand

TV (Virgin) VOD users and the importance of recency

Source – Essential Research November 2008

“Always scheduled TV first”Linear schedul

e

“I mostly use the V Plus box I have. I think that may be why I sometimes do not need the catch up - as long as I remember to record something.”

PVR

“[If miss a programme] Probably watch it on Catch Up TV if it is on there. If not I would go on the internet to see if i can watch it there”

Catch Up

“TV Choice: when I can't find any programs to watch on normal TV and I haven't got any programs recorded on the V+”

TV Choice

Online VOD

“If a series is missed completely, I’ll download off the internet, but that does not happen often having V+ and catch up”

Viewing hierarchy for the majority of Virgin customers

Key Points

• Programmes like The Inbetweeners are excellent examples of VOD behaviour at its most extreme. The fusing of highly personal content aimed at a very specific audience

• The general direction of travel for VOD consumption is driven by key genres rather than particular demographics as penetration grows

• Recency and catch up are the main drivers of VOD consumption

• VOD plays a role in the mix but is substitutable with other digital technologies