ABC PS3 tie-up takes iView to a new high
The ABC’s embracing of alternative means of reaching TV viewers appears to be paying early dividends.
Weeks after ABC iView began to be promoted on the Sony Playstation 3, it is already delivering a significant number of new viewers.
From virtually nothing the previous week, week 47 of the ratings year (November 16-22) saw 26,000 visits to iView via the PS3. The following week, there were 89,000 visits. This amounted to more than a quarter of the 318,000 visits the iView player had overall that week.
According to WebTrends, in November ABC iView had its highest ever number of visitors and visits.
There were 356,000 visitors to ABC iView in November (up 24% on October, which was also a record).
In November, ABC iView recorded 1.155 million visits.
The most viewed programs on iView (April-October) have been:
- Four Corners
- United States of Tara
- Good Game
- Doctor Who
- The Chaser’s War on Everything
- Media Watch
Last time i used iView on the PS3 it was skipping frames, making the viewing experience pretty average. Perhaps the new system upgrade will address this. Tried getting an answer from @abcmarkscott via Twitter but got nada.
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Iview works a treat on my ps3 thru to a 60″ plasma – great picture ( for what it is) – totally watchable and good audio – highly recommend.
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iView playback has defnitely been optimised for the recent launch on PS3 – it plays much better now over my wi-fi connection now than it had ever previously.
Although it is watchable, the bitrate could still be inceased to increase the picture quality, as the current streaming is still no comparison to downloaded or recorded content.
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It’s a sign of the times that someone would think it’s easier to hassle the head of the ABC directly for an answer on a small technical detail… rather than simply fire up a PS3 and see for yourself!
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Got my Play TV for the PS3 on the weekend. This, combined with the PS3 iView feature has rendered my Media Center all but redundant. iView works a treat on the PS3. The resolution isn’t up to 576i standards, but it’s pretty darn good. Of course the PS3 includes the Blu-Ray player, gaming, online extras (like Playstation Home) – oh and there’s also a 24 x 7 online music video offering. Great value and heaps better than something as limited as Tivo and for less money.
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I got the $599 PS3 slim deal with the PlayTV over the weekend. I checked out the iView player. Its a good start. I’d like to see the other broadcasters follow suit.
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Cannot help but think that this is the beginning of the end. Many probably don’t want to follow the finer points of the frame skipping / 576i-style debate here, but it means more choice of on-demand watching. And that means less viewership for programmed (ad included) conten, full stop.
Would be interesting to see if Four Corners would stay up there in the numbers if it was PS 3 viewers only.
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Been a fan of iView since it’s launch, seemless service thanks to iiNet also. Certainly makes for a better viewing choice than free to air rubbish. Well done ABC, other networks should give the guys at Switch Media a call and follow suit.
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