Advanced Television

iPlayer take-up slowing

May 20, 2008

UK broadband firm PlusNet has claimed that take-up of the BBC’s iPlayer broadband TV service has slowed significantly after meteoric traffic growth in the early months of 2008. The BBC iPlayer typically accounts for 50 per cent of all streaming traffic on PlusNet’s network, according to products and development director Neil Armstrong. However, Armstrong described PlusNet’s traffic figures as showing a “natural levelling off” in the take-up of streaming services, which has been driven by the iPlayer in the first few months of 2008.

“We’ve reached an initial plateau where lots of people with computers have dabbled with the iPlayer but that growth has been slowing for a few months,” he said.

Armstrong said the launch of Kangaroo – the commercial broadband TV joint venture backed by BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 – by October would trigger more interest in online streaming, with consumers shifting behaviour away from the use of personal video recorders such as Sky Plus. “Streaming is an ever growing portion of usage, but for a relatively small number of users. As it becomes more popular and more people use it, that will grow quickly,” he added.

Back to top

——————————————————————————–

Categories: Articles