On Demand Weekly

After a 16 month break from the ring, the undefeated Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is set to battle current WBC Welterweight Champion Victor Ortiz at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011 with the WBC Welterweight World title on the line.

To celebrate Mayweather’s much-anticipated return to boxing, for the first time ever, cable systems around the country will be offering fans a full three-hour special countdown show beginning at 6PM ET, only on Pay-Per-View.

Following the countdown, Boxing: Mayweather vs. Ortiz, can be seen live on PPV at 9PM ET/6PM PT.

The event, entitled “Star Power,” comes on the weekend of Mexican Independence Day, traditionally a big weekend for boxing. The three-hour countdown block, which precedes the event, will feature full-length episodes of HBO’s 24/7 Mayweather/Ortiz, classic fights from both fighters, the prior day’s weigh-in, a 30 minute preview of the main event and more. For more information, go to: http://www.indemand.com/product/view/247663


FREE ON DEMAND CONTENT:


- Boxing: Mayweather vs. Ortiz Press Tour

A behind-the-scenes view as Floyd Mayweather and Victor Ortiz embark on a press tour, from NYC to Vegas, for their welterweight championship mega-fight.


- Boxing: Mayweather vs. Ortiz Preview

The in-depth preview show includes the backgrounds of both fighters, interviews with managers, trainers, analysts and the fighters themselves, plus footage of training sessions and from some of their most pivotal fights.


- Boxing: Mayweather vs. Ortiz Weigh-In

Footage of the weigh-in from Friday will be available on Saturday.


Free programs are available now within the Free On Demand offerings on various cable systems. Locations differ by system but viewers can check their Video On Demand (VOD) menus under Events on Demand, Free Previews, Free Extras or Sports.
 

Rentrak, the leader in multi-screen media measurement serving the advertising, television and entertainment industries releases their annual State of VOD: Trend Report 2011. The report, which is based on an aggregation of data from Rentrak's OnDemand Essentials service, shows that video-on-demand

(VOD) is at the tipping point

of becoming a major ad medium.

Free-On-Demand (FOD) content, which are programs that run on ad-supported broadcast, cable and on-demand only networks, experienced 17% growth in 2011 to 6.8 billion transactions. With an average of 5 hours and 17 FOD television shows or videos watched per month, the potential value of the ad inventory in these programs is at least one billion dollars, based on Rentrak estimates.

The on-demand platform is an excellent growth opportunity for increased ad revenue with more than 55 million U.S. homes with access to VOD and the average home spending 8 hours per month watching VOD content. The majority of VOD viewing is spent on free programs.

"We like to think about VOD as the power of 8-plus! In the 8 years since VOD has taken off, homes now watch 8 hours of VOD a month and 80% of that is free TV programs, with more than 80% of the free TV program viewing occurring after the first three days of availability on-demand. Combine that with the potential ad sales of a billion dollars and you have one powerful medium," said Cathy Hetzel, Corporate President at Rentrak.

Cathy Hetzel, Corporate President at Rentrak

Additional Insights from Rentrak's State of VOD: Trend Report 2011:

     - VOD grew overall by more than 1 billion transactions from 7.8 billion last year to 8.8 billion in 2011.

     - 77% of those transactions (6.8 billion) were for free content, providing significant opportunity for revenue growth over the coming years as ad insertion technology becomes commonplace.

     - Each month, 33.8 million STBs accessed free content.

     - Within FOD, major program viewership is now dominant. The TV Entertainment category, which includes programming from the top linear broadcast and cable networks, is now the top FOD category by transactions, up from #3 last year.

For more information, or to purchase the Rentrak State of VOD: Trend Report 2011, please visit http://www.rentrak.com/stateofvod/
 

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