The second annual Xfinity Watchathon Week kicks off March 31 and is always a great time of year to dive into the data and see what the numbers tell us about viewing behavior and consumption.
Notably, TV viewing on Xfinity On Demand has grown more than 100 percent since 2010 and continues to grow an average of 30 percent every year. Time spent watching content is growing, too – up 12 percent since last year’s Watchathon. Our platform now averages 400 million views a month and provides access to a massive amount of content, including more than 200 series that offer every episode of the current season.
The data related to current season in particular, addresses whether On Demand viewing cannibalizes a show’s live ratings. Take AMC’s Mad Men as an example. That show was featured during last year’s Watchathon, right before the season six premiere. For that week, our customers caught up on what happened to Don Draper in the dentist’s chair, Betty’s cancer diagnosis, and why Peggy was no longer working at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Then, when the show premiered in April, Comcast households saw a 14 percent higher live rating increase over the season five premiere. In all other households, season six premiere ratings were down compared to season five.
Given the continuous growth of the On Demand platform – both in content and consumption - it’s no surprise that the second annual Watchathon Week is bigger and better than before. With more than 5000 episodes from over 130 TV series this year, Comcast is offering 40+ percent more content than last year.
Xfinity On Demand is increasingly becoming a part of our customers’ TV viewing habits. Moving forward, we’ll continue to provide our customers with the ultimate selection of content across all our Xfinity On Demand platforms - on TV, online at Xfinity.com/TV and via the Xfinity TV Go app for tablets and smartphones.