Sky recorded a huge surge in people using video-on-demand services over the past year, according to the company's latest trading figures. The broadcaster recorded a total of 1.5 billion on-demand downloads over the past 12 months, an increase of 60% on the year before.
The company reports that 65% of Sky homes have now connected their set-top box to the internet, giving them full access to Sky's on-demand services, such as Box Sets and catch-up TV services such as the BBC iPlayer. The Box Sets themselves - which allow users to stream entire series of television shows via their Sky+ box - have recorded more than 600 million views since their launch last year. Sky says that's the equivalent of the fourth most popular channel on its service.
The company also reported "strong growth" in Now TV, the on-demand and streaming service that doesn't require a full satellite subscription. Although it doesn't offer specific figures for Now TV adoption, the company claims it sold three times as many Sky Sports passes in the past year as it did in the year previous, largely "thanks to increased awareness of the new Now TV week pass", which gives access to all the Sky Sports channels for seven days for £10.99. Recently Sky also introduced a month pass for £31.99.
Sky has overcome many of the reliability problems that beset Now TV in its early days, where streams would routinely fail on big occasions such as key football matches or new episodes of popular series such as Game of Thrones. An updated version of the Sky Now streaming device was launched last month, although it still won't deliver the Full HD streams that many were hoping for, even though the hardware is technically capable of delivering that resolution.
Sky is reported to be improving the on-demand facilities with its new 4K-compatible set-top box, SkyQ, which is expected to be unveiled imminently. The box will reportedly record up to four TV channels simultaneously and allow users to wirelessly stream recorded content on other devices, such as smartphones and tablets.
The shift towards fibre broadband - which Sky now offers for "free" with premium television subscriptions - and on-demand viewing raises questions over the long-term future of satellite broadcasts.
