Virgin Media has revealed how British sports fans created what has been dubbed ‘Second Screen Sunday’ as they turned to Virgin TV Anywhere to follow the final day of the Premier League on multiple screens during one of the busiest weekends of the sporting calendar.
Virgin Media saw a 38% increase in people using the service, which allowed customers to watch different TV channels at the same time yesterday. The number of viewers peaked at 3.30pm, just before the end of the first half and the first of Man City’s two goals. Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 were the most-watched channels online, accounting for around 50% of all viewing online and more than a quarter of all content viewed on the Virgin TV Anywhere service.
As families turned to their TVs and web devices for entertainment, sports fans in Virgin Media homes were treated to four channels of live football alongside live coverage of the Giro D’Italia cycling and the Spanish F1 Grand Prix. Available through their TiVo boxes, laptops, tablets and smartphones thanks to Virgin Media’s superfast fibre network, sports fans could keep up with the action no matter who was in control of the remote.
While yesterday’s coverage kept thousands of viewers captivated on Virgin TV Anywhere, last Wednesday’s match created a similar spike as viewers watched Man City all but secure the Premier League trophy. Sky Sports 1 was by far and away the most-watched channel that day, accounting for a whopping 44% of all viewing online and 20% of all content viewed on the Virgin TV Anywhere service.
Sports coverage is hugely popular on Virgin TV Anywhere, with Sky Sports 1 and BT Sport 1 frequently topping the service’s ‘most watched’ channel list, as Britain’s sports fans regularly turn to ‘second screens’ other than the TV to keep up with the latest sports action.
Virgin TV Anywhere is free to all Virgin Media TV customers and offers more live channels than Sky Go, with 91 available online, 40 of these channels are not available on Sky Go, including CITV, ITV, Channel 5, CBS Reality and many more. TiVo® customers can watch 68 live channels on mobiles and tablets wherever there is WiFi in the UK.
For more information about Virgin TV Anywhere, click here.
Virgin Media offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline.
The company’s dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely available broadband speeds to homes and businesses. And we’re expanding this through our £3bn Project Lightning programme, which will reach 17 million premises.
Our interactive TV service brings live programmes, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games in a set-top box, as well as on-the-go for tablets and smartphones.
We launched the world’s first virtual mobile network, offering fantastic value and services to customers. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland.
Through Virgin Media Business we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering the fastest widely available broadband speeds and tailor-made services.
Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international cable company. Together Virgin Media and Liberty Global serve 27 million customers across 14 countries.