ABS-CBN Corporation reported that there is a growing number of Filipinos locally and abroad who have consumed television content online, based on the increasing hit rates of the company’s video-streaming websites iWantv!, and TFC.tv.
Data for the month of March show that iWantv! is the number one locally published website based on local traffic in the country, according to Effective Measure (EM), a research supplier for web audience measurement of the nation’s online publishers. The data also showed that iWantv! has generated 36.3 million views and attracted 2.7 million unique visitors in the Philippines viewing the latest and most recent episodes of ABS-CBN’s top rating programmes. This represents a 10% growth from 32.9 million views and a 15% increase in unique visitors from February.
Offshore, global Filipinos have been subscribing to the “Global Digital Tambayan for Filipinos” – TFC.tv (formerly TFC Now!) to watch their favorite Kapamilya programmes.
ABS-CBN Interactive Digital Media head Ralph Menorca said iWantv!’s success lies in the portal’s ability to reach a previously untapped market for television companies. “iWantv! caters to people on the go, who normally can’t catch the programs on schedule, and who want to watch their favorite shows at their own time. If you missed it on TV, you can watch it over the Internet.”
By 2015, experts estimate that the number of subscribers in the country availing of wireless broadband services through mobile devices would balloon to 31.5 million or six times more than the five million broadband users as of end-2011.
Meanwhile, there are about eight million smartphones and tablets in the country today with access to wireless data services from their respective networks. Market analysts see the number growing through 2015 with the devices’ increased functionality and declining prices as low-cost Android-enabled mobile phones, mid-range tablets, and cheap brands already in the market.
But the biggest threat to ABS-CBN’s Internet TV so far, ABS-CBN Interactive managing director and TFC.tv general manager Eugene Paden revealed, is online piracy, or the illegal and unofficial uploading of ABS-CBN content to video-sharing and video-streaming websites.
“We do several things to address this by offering better quality videos, additional features, being consistent in uploading videos and providing complete content to our subscribers. We also go after the pirated sites, we take them down,” he explained.
But apart from piracy, Menorca believes Internet TV is here to stay with more and more Filipinos enjoying the benefit of being able to enjoy “TV everywhere.”
“From 306,000 users by the end of 2011, we now have 1.9 million registered iWantv! subscribers by end-March and counting,” he said. He added inquiries from advertisers are already mounting with the private sector taking notice of the potential of Internet TV.
