Rentrak Says July Was Record Month for VOD Viewing

Multiscreen media measurement and research company, Rentrak, announced Tuesday that VOD viewing set a record in July with 655 million transactions, surpassing the previous record--which was set in June--by 11%, and representing a 19% increase over the same month last year. The company--which offers a VOD measurement service called OnDemand Essentials--also said it measured a 15% increase in the number of unique set-top boxes accessing VOD. In addition, the average number of minutes per day spent watching VOD increased, the company said, and the proportion of VOD-enabled set-top boxes accessing on-demand content increased to 47% in July.

Rentrak also said that total free VOD transactions rose to 476 million in July; music-related content led the category, according to the company, with 146 million transactions or 31% of all free VOD transactions. In addition, the company said that the TV entertainment category had its strongest month of the year in July with an 18% increase; that free VOD music transactions increased by 17%; that free VOD children's programming transactions increased by 10%; and that subscription VOD offerings saw a 10% increase in total transactions.