Montréal, October 10, 2013 – In 2003, Videotron customers became the first in Canada – and North America – to enjoy the flexibility of video on demand (VoD) and experience television in a new way. Videotron has maintained its leadership in VoD ever since, with more than 30,000 titles per year and the largest choice of children's programming, all on four screens: television (illico TV channel 900), the Web (illico.tv), tablets (illico.tv app for iPad and Android) and illico mobile.
Videotron's strategy of giving customers the power and adapting to the customer's lifestyle revolutionized business models at the time. Video on demand quickly caught on with consumers and has now become part and parcel of their daily lives. Last year, more than 100 million orders were logged on the different platforms.
We entered the world of video on demand well before the other players, said Isabelle Dessureault, Vice President, Content Operations and Public Affairs of Videotron. For almost 10 years, from 2003 to 2011, we were the only company to offer VoD in our market. Today, the annual consumption of Videotron's on-demand content is 20 times what it was in the first year. In all, the service has logged 500 million free and paid orders. The most popular shows since the launch of the VoD service have been Occupation double (20 million), Tchoupi et Doudou (15 million) and Lance et compte (10 million). Four Québec films are on the list of the 10 most-ordered movies in one year: La grande séduction, C.R.A.Z.Y, Bon cop, bad cop and De père en flic.
The uncontested leader
Throughout these 10 years, Videotron has introduced one innovation after another. For example:
2005: The series Nos étés 2 offered on VoD before broadcast on television
2008: Éléphant project gives access to 200 digitally remastered Québec films
2010: illico Web, illico mobile and VoD in 3D launched; multi-screen pause and resume introduced, a Canadian first
2011: Launch of Lib tv, Canada's first mobile-only channel (available only via VoD)
2012: Launch of illico TV new generation
2012: Launch of illico.tv app for iPad
2013: Launch of illico Club Unlimited (the largest catalogue of French-language content of any subscription video on demand service)
illico Club Unlimited and mobile
We plan to actively continue development of our illico Club Unlimited service, launched in February 2013, said Isabelle Dessureault. The response to illico Club Unlimited has exceeded our expectations: already, more than 50,000 customers are taking advantage of this unique product, which is positioned as the number 1 choice of Québec families. We will soon announce the launch of illico Club Unlimited on iPad.
Consumption of content on computers, mobiles and tablets is a new trend that is growing exponentially. The viewing of video content on mobile devices grew 300% in 2012, rising to 10.4% of all viewings compared with 3% in 20111. The increase was due in large part to massive tablet adoption.
Party on!
As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, new subscribers to illico Club Unlimited who sign up between now and November 5, 2013 will get one month free. Videotron customers will also enjoy special programming at old-fashioned prices throughout the fall and, until October 18, they can enter the 10th anniversary contest and stand a chance to win one of 50 entertainment packages including 10 free movie rentals and 10 month subscription to illico Club Unlimited.
For more information on the 10th anniversary of video on demand, visit illico.tvVideotron (www.videotron.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company engaged in cable television, interactive multimedia development, and Internet access, cable telephone and mobile telephone services. Videotron is a leader in new technologies with its illico interactive television service and its broadband network, which supports high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital cable television, and other services. As of June 30, 2013, Videotron was serving 1,832,400 cable television customers, including 1,502,000 subscribers Digital TV. Videotron is also the Québec leader in high-speed Internet access, with 1,395,400 subscribers to its cable service as of June 30, 2013. As of the same date, Videotron had 451,100 subscriber connections to its mobile telephone service and was providing cable telephone service to 1,274,700 Québec households and organizations. For the eighth consecutive year, Videotron was ranked as Québec's most respected telecommunications company by Les Affaires magazine, based on a Léger Marketing survey.
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1 U.S. Digital Video Benchmark 2012 Review
