Number of European VOD services reaches 700

There are currently at least 696 audiovisual on-demand services from 366 different providers available in Europe, according to a study published by the European Audiovisual Observatory and the French government’s Direction du Développement des Médias.

The study, Video on Demand and Catch-Up Television in Europe, found that the UK led the way, with 145 services available that met the criteria of an on-demand service defined by the European audiovisual media services directive. This was followed by France with 106 services and Italy with 93. Over 56% of these services were delivered via the internet, while 30% were delivered via IPTV over a DSL network. Cable accounted for 7% of services, and satellite providers accounted for less than 3%. The UK’s Top Up TV was the only on-demand services delivered over digital-terrestrial TV.

In terms of IPTV VOD services, Italy led the way with 77 services, followed by the UK with 34 and France with 24. Belgium led with cable services (15), followed by France with 10, and the UK and the Netherlands with six apiece. The UK had 145 internet VOD services, followed by France with 106 and Italy with 93.

Overall, TV service providers accounted for 33% of services, followed by telecom operators with 17% and content aggregators with 14%. Other providers including subsidiaries of US studios (9%), cultural goods retailers (5%), cable operators (4%) and film companies (4%).

The Observatory’s study did not count services delivered via mobile phones or services devoted to information, trailers or adult programming, or video-sharing sites such as YouTube or Dailymotion.