Virgin to ‘pick and choose’ TiVo apps
February 9, 2012
Virgin Media is happy to limit the apps available on TiVo, insisting quality is more important than quantity. COO Andrew Barron told analysts: They will be heavyweight apps, not just fodder. It’s easy to publish all sorts of things to it, because it’s got Flash – but we want to the real heavyweights.”
Virgin claimed viewers called up 2.4 million app sessions in November, spending 21 minutes a time. The showcase apps are iPlayer and Spotify, whose content tends to run long.
He revealed half of viewing on TiVo is now carried out through its My Shows section – that is, shows recorded on its PVR and personalised recommendations. Virgin, whose TV box has three tuners for simultaneous recording as well as broadcaster catch-up services, is spearheading a big rise in timeshifting, now showing 90 million VOD views per month from customers.