Richard Broughton / Published - 04 Nov 08

Virgin Media, the major cable operator in the UK with 3.5m subs, reported a surging increase in video-on-demand (VoD) views: 45m per month, compared to 23m in Q3 2007. While these results are encouraging, 95% of these views are free and VoD is primarly a value-add service to counter churn rather than a major revenue stream. In GMI's view, Virgin Media needs more and better content and must develop ad-supported VoD to see more of a revenue gain from VoD.