TV on-demand viewings surge

The number of people watching Virgin Media's on-demand television service TiVo climbed significantly in 2011.

According to the firm, over one billion customers viewed TV programmes at a time that suited them, representing an increase of 14 per cent compared with 2010.

ITV soap Coronation Street was the most-watched show using on-demand services, while The Vampire Diaries was named as the most popular complete series by the organisation.

Virgin Media also highlighted that the growth in use of on-demand TV has not diminished the appeal of linear viewing, citing figures from Thinkbox that demonstrate people watched roughly the same amount of this kind of programming in 2011 as they did a year earlier.

The BBC also recently reported record-breaking viewing numbers for its iPlayer service.

December was a particular high point for the broadcaster, with a substantial rise in the number of households using the free online service via connected TVs.

Around seven million programmes were requested through connected TV sets in the final month of the year, out of the 187 million viewings recorded in total for iPlayer.