ITV.com sees 'X Factor' and soap power surge

by Dan Leahul, Brand Republic 10-Dec-08, 11:35

LONDON - Demand for online video clips of 'The X Factor' and soaps has fuelled web traffic to ITV.com, which is averaging 156,000 video views per day.

Page impressions for 'The X Factor' section of the ITV site are up by 267% compared to last year, with over 15m short form video clips viewed in total for the programmes fourth season.

Views for 'I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here' also saw a 211% increase compared to last year.

In November, video views on ITV.com increased 15.7m, up 600% year on year.

ITV Player, its video-on-demand platform, has also seen growth, with over 22m plays this year, an increase of nearly 900%.

The top three catch-up programmes for ITV Player are 'Coronation Street' 'The X Factor' and 'Emmerdale'.

Comparatively, BBC iPlayer recently released figures showing 237m viewing requests since its official launch last Christmas.

These statistics came after a survey found a quarter of consumers watch BBC iPlayer at least once a week.

In November, ITV.com drew 9.4m unique users and 134m page impressions in November, a 270% increase since the site's re-launch in August 2007.

According to October comScore stats, ITV.com sits seventh in a league table of UK entertainment sites, up from 17th in August 2007.

Ben McOwen Wilson, ITV director of online, said: "It really has been an amazing year for ITV.com and we are extremely proud to be announcing these figures today.

"They are further proof that we have a winning formula, the combination of ITV's massive programme brands and a website that allows enjoyment of premier content online will be rewarded by the attention of millions of users.

"We will continue to listen to what users want from our flagship website as we look forward to making the site bigger and better for 2009."