SHERMAN OAKS: Video on demand is rated more highly by US consumers than rival offerings such as DVRs, HD channels and premium channels, new research has revealed.

Vubiquity, a provider of multiplatform video services, sampled 1,700 US consumers with access to VOD services in the fourth quarter of 2012 and found that respondents ranked VOD at the top of the available subscriptions and services in terms of value.

Some 62% put VOD as the number one choice, followed by DVRs, cited by 60%, HD channels, mentioned by 55%, and premium channels, referred to by 47%.

Fully 65% of users agreed with the statement "Everything I might ever want to watch is easily available" on demand, a sharp rise from the 12% who agreed in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Vubiquity attributed this increase to the greater availability of free on demand (FOD) TV content. "In 2012, we managed over 85,000 total hours of FOD content, 86% more than 2 years before, and the increase in HD was 285%," said Laurie Lawrence, CMO of Vubiquity, adding that "the amount of content continues to grow".

The survey also discovered that VOD was fuelling binge viewing. More than three quarters (76%) of respondents admitted to watching three or more episodes of a TV show consecutively in one sitting.

In addition, almost 40% said they did this more often now compared with 12 months earlier.

With consumers increasingly able to access this content via connected devices, there has also been a move to viewing on alternate screens. This was particularly notable in the case of children's animated content, where 35% of respondents accessed On Demand content this way.

Vubiquity concluded that the volume of content, coupled with its speedy availability, would help the market to monetize digital video content.

Data sourced from Vubiquity; additional content by Warc staff