ABC.com Breaks Records for Full-Episode Viewing

BURBANK, July 15: A total
of 815 minutes of full-length episodes were viewed on ABC.com’s video player in
May, a 53-percent rise on April and a 110-percent increase on the year-ago
period.

Drivers for the online
gains were season finales of Lost,
Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate
Housewives and Ugly Betty, among other programming.

The data, recorded by Move
Networks, ABC.com’s Internet television services provider, also shows that
viewers watched 37 million episodes in May, an increase of more than 27 percent
compared to the previous month.

“Clearly, the demand for
ABC’s high-quality television programming continues to grow online,
particularly among younger viewers,” said Albert
Cheng, the executive VP of digital media at Disney-ABC Television Group.
“Our digital media team is dedicated to bringing new innovations to the ABC.com
Full Episode Player, and we expect that these efforts to enhance the online
viewing experience, combined with ABC Entertainment’s unparalleled content,
will result in continued viewership growth in the months ahead.”

Approximately 400 million episodes
have been initiated through the player since its launch in 2006.

—By Mansha Daswani