Virgin Media ondemand service gains popularity

Virgin Media has reported an increase in the number of people who use its on-demand TV service.

The firm, owned by entrepreneur Richard Branson, revealed that it received more than 45 million requests for television programmes available on-demand in August - an increase from 34 million in January.

It is the first time that 50 per cent of Virgin Media’s 3.5 million TV customers are regularly watching on-demand content and the figure now means that the total views of on-demand programmes is at 314 million - within an eight-month period.

Neil Berkett, chief executive of Virgin Media, said: “We are clearly on the precipice of some fundamental changes in the way people watch TV.

“The giant leaps we have taken this year alone show how popular on-demand viewing has become and as we continue to add compelling programming and develop innovative new ways of accessing it, we will certainly enter a new era of television.”