MS: 42% of US XBL Gold members watch average of 1hr of video content a day

With Hulu Plus, Netflix and Zune on the Xbox 360, now more than ever the console is becoming a bastion for those looking to digest video content. During a preview of the upcoming Fall Dashboard update for Xbox Live, I spoke with senior product manager of Xbox Live entertainment, Terry Farrell, and asked him for some hard data.

"42 percent of Xbox Live Gold members in the U.S. are watching an average of an hour of television and movies on their Xbox, every single day," Farrell said. Each month, that adds up to "more than 30 hours of digitally distributed television and movies." Farrell also revealed that over the last year, Xbox Live has seen three times the use of video content on the Xbox 360 console, spread across Netflix, Hulu Plus and Microsoft's Zune rental service.

With the new Fall Dashboard update, Microsoft is looking to make it easier to present this video content, both through use of Bing search (which works via the controller and Kinect) and what the company hopes is a more intuitive and navigable user interface. Also, YouTube.

Reader Comments (35)

"During a preview of the upcoming Fall Dashboard update for Xbox Live"

So when can we expect some more info on the new dashboard then Joystiq?

@coolicer - http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/09/xbox-live-fall-dashboard-preview-from-nonsense-to-metro/

Not to take the wind out of what appears to be marketing spin .... but

To have any weight there needs to be far more context.
42% is less than half of Xbox Gold members but what percentage of Xbox members are Gold members? We talking fractions of fractions with no actual numbers in sight.

See I was good I didn't even call them out on the "averages"

@Scuffles A better question would be "What's the point of this statistic?"

@Scuffles I think it would be a far better statistic if they mentioned the average money made on movie rentals per month. Saying people watch videos is a no brainer theirs lots of free trailers and such on the dashboard.

@Xei - It says movie & TV content so the free trailers aren't being counted.

It's probably made up of Netflix, Hulu Plus & paid content on Zune Marketplace.

My parents own a Wii just to watch Netflix on their TV. And they don't have to pay $50 a year on top of the subscription fee to be able to do that.

@nimzy

options are good

@nimzy Thanks for sharing. What did they have for dinner last night?

@nimzy

So where do they stream the hardcore stuff from?

Bing? Zune? Why do you want one of your most successful enterprises to be sullied by the names of your worst failures MS? Next thing you know the new xbox will be "Xbox Vista".

@gangcar but Bing and Zune are successful for them. The Zune player is not but Bing is the #2 search engine and Zune is a video content service that is making them money.

@gangcar

When you born? There are so many Microsoft failures and you could have picked over Bing? Bing is the only search engine to actually gain ANY significant market share against Google? Also how can Zune sully the Xbox name when it still doesn't have any brand recognition?

Zune brand = "What is that, again?" not
Zune brand = "I've heard a bunch of anecdotal reports about it not working correctly and thus will avoid it"

@gangcar Worst failures? lol. Let me introduce you to Windows ME. Or do you measure failure by whether or not you personally like something?

@Odog4ever So it's beating what? Ask Jeeves? I guess they don't have the money to pay browser companies to make it the default on all of their software, or to run tv commercials, or the default on all non-android Verison cellphones, or to buy out all of the competition. You're right man, Bing is a totally awesome search engine. It may be slower that Google and Yahoo and may occasionally return Google search results, but hey, that's what makes it so great. OH, AND IT'S TOTALLY WORTH THE 2.6 BILLION THEY LOST ON IT LAST YEAR.

"Bing search (which works via the controller and Kinect)"
I was relieved to read that; I was concerned that with the Kinect-centric nature of the update, the ability to search might be limited to Kinect voice commands. I hope it's easy to just bring up a search prompt and type stuff in with the chatpad.

The only reason a company touts these numbers is to attract advertisers.

that worries me

@eat it - Not necessarily... In fact, that wasn't even my first thought.

My first thought was them trying to attract more content providers.

Give the video service to Europe. Please I beg you Microsoft!!!! The shitty zune streaming with 1 year delay of releases and prices 2x the rental price is redicilous!

Sometimes when I play a game I like to check to see what everyone else is playing and most of them are all on Zune or Netflix. Play some damn games.

Technically it's twenty minutes of actual video, and forty minutes of seeing "Your network connection has slowed, please wait while we adjust your video performance."

@DaRabidDuckie - You might want to look into your connection then because I almost never see that (and I'll be the first to admit, I have a decent but not fantastic connection).

@DaRabidDuckie
Bleep Bloop
Download of "New Hot Game Demo X" has stopped

I go on the espn app once a day. I watch a lot of netfix in the summer months when the games are not so good. But in about a month i will have to buy about 6 games. So, that will keep me busy!

"Farrell also revealed that over the last year, Xbox Live has seen three times the use of video content on the Xbox 360 console"

Three times the use of video compared to what? The year before? The PS3? Wii?

@343 Guilty Fart - Usually when they say something like 'over the past year', that refers to a comparison to the previous year.

I would say that between my wife and , we watch about 2 to 3 hours of Netflix. It's spread over the 360, Wii, and PS3, but probably most of it is via the 360. We like the interface more.

Canada gets shafted so hard when it comes to features on Xbox Live, we get a shitty version of netflix that has old movies and tv shows nobody cares about, no ESPN, and no Hulu plus. Feels bad mang.

@Dr Changsteen

But on the plus side, we live in Canada!

@Dr Changsteen - None of which has anything to do with Microsoft, Xbox or Xbox Live.

The content on Netflix is completely a Netflix issue (though there is some good content on there but having just visited the US & seen their content library when I logged into the website, I agree our's is nowhere near what the US gets).

ESPN & Hulu don't exist in Canada. I'm sure Microsoft would add them to the console ASAP if they did (see: Netflix. It was on the 360 Dashboard as soon as the next update launched when Netflix came to Canada).

"42% of our gold members watch movies and tv a lot!"
"Awesome, how can we squeeze more money out of this?"

Heck yes I do. I freaking love some Netflix. Watched Samurai Champloo last night.

"42 percent of Xbox Live Gold members in the U.S. are watching an average of an hour of television and movies on their Xbox, every single day,"

you are averaging which 42%? this statement makes no sense. unless 42% of users are averaging 1.000 hrs/day. bullshit.

@gevenstaines - I take it to mean that 42% of US XBL users are watching video content on their 360s & are averaging one hour per day.

MS: 42% of US XBL Gold members watch average of 1hr of video content a day

Reader Comments (35)

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:05PM coolicer said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 6:01PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:11PM Scuffles said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:12PM Scuffles said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:37PM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 1:16PM Xei said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 12:54PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:13PM nimzy said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:23PM eat it said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:28PM MrGreen said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 2:00PM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:14PM gangcar said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:44PM kcswanko said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:46PM Odog4ever said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:58PM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 1:59AM gangcar said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:19PM Ravenok said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:21PM eat it said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 6:12PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:40PM Anciegher said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:45PM kcswanko said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:47PM DaRabidDuckie said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 6:14PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 8:21PM swooded said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 12:52PM a falling stone said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 2:01PM 343 Guilty Fart said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 6:15PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 2:04PM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Sep 9th 2011 2:05PM Dr Changsteen said

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Posted: Sep 9th 2011 6:17PM Mcmax3000 said

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