The BBC has revealed that of the record 100 million iPlayer requests in December, 11 per cent were via games consoles, 75 per cent up on prior months. The news comes as The BBC Trust announces another consultation this time on specifics of the on demand services provided through iPlayer.

Consultations are open until March 12th and are invited on the seven day catch up, TV simulcasting and podcasts. Bookmarking series stacking are also on the agenda. There will be a separate review of the more controversial syndication of iPlayer to other platforms.

The (largely technical) review comes as PwC produces research warning that iPlayer is a major threat to commercial TV revenues. It predicts by 2014 15 per cent of viewing will have shifted to free VOD from linear channels, a percentage that represents £420 million (E475m) of advertising at today's rates.

PWC says this revenue cannot be recouped in VOD advertising: users will not tolerate the 10mins per hour sold in linear, with only 3 mins per hour even if sold at the same rate (and the CPMs are lower today) £280 million would be lost.

Categories: Articles, VOD