Microsoft notices Xbox gamers actually slack-jawed TV fans, adds 43 new apps
Xbox Live service gets new video channels
Everyone's been waiting for a game-changing Apple TV product to come riding over the hill, but it could be Microsoft that captures the internet TV market first.
In the Xbox, Microsoft already has a popular internet box that people plug into the sitting room TV. Now Microsoft is ramping up the TV and video content available on XBox Live - the software ecosystem built into the Xbox - following new statistics that suggest Xbox users are now more likely to be watching TV on their console than playing games/
"Statistics show members of [Xbox Live] its paid online subscription service spend more time on it watching video than they do playing multiplayer games over the Internet" AP claims.
Microsoft were being cagier on the statistics but said that video watching on Xbox increased at a much faster rate than gaming.
- Total hours spent on Xbox LIVE has grown 30 per cent year over year (includes online gaming and entertainment).
- Global video consumption has increased 140 per cent year over year.
- Xbox LIVE subscribers are spending more than 300 million hours per month on video applications
The trend means video watching will outstrip gaming shortly if it hasn't already.
Anyway, MS is bumping up its video app content with bonanza of new apps - adding 43 of them - with many video and TV channels such as MTV, the CW Network and a whole bunch of European television channels now available in Xbox Live, although many of them require paid subscriptions. The full list is here.
There's a new Sainsbury's app for the United Kingdom. Vimeo and Flixster are going to the United States. Services like film-streaming Netflix and TV-streaming Hulu are already bundled into Xbox.
It means that the Xbox does pretty much everything an Apple TV can do, but with a games console whacked in. Commentators have wondered for a while whether Microsoft could outsmart Apple in this arena, and a November rumour suggested Microsoft was building a set-top box.
Of course, nerds will just have plugged their PC into the TV since HDMI ports became standard. ®
COMMENTS
So does that mean there's a lot of dim people
Who like to pay their XBOX Gold membership fee to access the Netflix/Lovefilm subscription they already paid for?
Don't tell 'em it's free on the PS3...
Huh
People really pay Microsoft just to connect to their online network? Has anyone told the parents of these kids they're being scammed? Pay for the privelege of paying for something else.. sounds like an excellent deal.
Holier-than-Thou Non-Believers
I don't suppose that it occurs to any of you that ask "why people pay for Xbox Gold" that there ARE people out there that enjoy playing multiplayer games?
My stepson (14) LOVES his Gold membership and when I get the chance for a bit of mindless shoot/stab/kill I like it too.....The only difference being I'm not too proud to say so.
The commentards on here like to think they are high and mighty, and somewhat above the rest. Keep that arrogance...I enjoy reading your idiocies!
Paris....because I reckon she likes to have her buttons pushed....
Re: Smart tvs suck
Not bloody smart enough. I prefer a dumb tv with something clever plugged in to it. Or a number of clever things, even better!
It means that the Xbox does pretty much everything an Apple TV can do,.
As can any other console. Or a Roku, which had the lions share of the internet TV streamer market last time I checked. Or internet TV streamers made by RCA, Sony, or any of a dozen other companies. Or, if you really want to get fancy, one of those nifty Android TV boxes that have access to the entire library of Android apps.
Apple TV is really not the device you should be using as your measuring stick for internet TV devices.
