ITV is planning on bringing pay-per-view downloads of shows like The Only Way Is Essex, Downton Abbey and Prime Suspect to YouView and mobile apps this year.
Paid downloads became a feature of the web-based version of ITV Player late last year, which has been very successful, racking up over 1 million registered users.
Read Recombu Digital’s guide to ITV Player
Chief executive Adam Crozier revealed plans to bring the feature to other platforms including YouView and “various” mobile platforms throughout 2013 to Broadcast [paywall].
Crozier spoke of how users regard paid downloads as a complement to DVD box sets and liked having an archive of their favourite shows to dip in and out of at will.
Though it looks like we’ll be seeing this coming to YouView at some point, we’re expecting paid downloads to hit mobile phone apps first.
Read Recombu Digital’s feature What is YouView?
“95 per cent of the growth is coming from mobile,” said Crozier. “This year you will see us put out payment mechanisms on various mobile platforms as the year progresses,” he added though failed to mention any platforms by name.
It’s almost a given that we’ll see an iOS version first followed by Android and later on maybe Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 apps (if we’re lucky). But it’s been known for Android versions of apps to make it to market before their iOS equivalents so we’ll have to see.
We’re keeping an ear close to the ground for updates on this one and as soon as there’s more information on paid ITV Player downloads coming to YouView and mobile platforms we’ll let you know.
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