More than 10m make use of BBCi interactive TV services

by Staff,, Brand Republic 03-Aug-04, 08:00

LONDON - Viewers are making ever increasing use of interactive television, with more than 10m using BBCi 'always-on' services, according to research.

The 10m figures breaks down to reveal that around 3.6m adults in Freeview homes used BBCi "always-on" services in May 2004, representing 53% of the Freeview audience, and 6.6m in satellite homes, or 46% of the audience.

The figures look set to rise as the research shows that 5.2m adults in Freeview homes are aware of BBCi service, or 77%, while this figure jumps to 12.4m adults in satellite homes, or a whopping 87%.

The BBC is hoping that more viewers will take advantage of its interactive or red button services as it launches a new version of the BBCi service, which the BBC says is twice as fast as the previous application.

Rahul Chakkara, controller of BBCi 24/7 services, said: "The growing reach and usage of BBCi reflects what the audience have been telling us -- they value an interactive service that is available on demand, complements programming, and is free. Our challenge now is to entice the rest of the digital public to use BBCi."

He added: "We recognise we need to offer a source, which is as efficient and user-friendly service as possible, so we have made changes to the application available on Freeview, enabling viewers to access content much faster."

BBCi's interactive services offer viewers a range of text information and video clips across news, weather, sports and entertainment by pressing the red button.

In addition, BBCi also provides access to what is being dubbed "eTV" programming, which offers digital viewers more options and extended content alongside programmes.

The most successful examples include Wimbledon 2004 coverage and last year's 'Fame Academy' and 'Test the Nation' shows.

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