Microsoft went big with its plans for new video entertainment options in December for its Xbox 360 console thanks to the launch of a large number of additional video entertainment apps for its gaming console. Today Microsoft"s Major Nelson web site offered up some new statistics for video and entertainment app use on Xbox Live.
According to the site, the total number of hours of video that were viewed by Xbox Live users jumped 140 percent in 2011 compared to 2010. The web site did not go into specifics of how many hours were actually viewed by Xbox 360 owners.
In addition, the number of people that used entertainment apps on Xbox Live such as Netflix, YouTube, Hulu Plus and others increased by nearly 50 percent worldwide in December 2011 compared to November 2011. Finally, Microsoft said that 60 percent of Xbox Live Gold members in the US used the system"s entertainment apps for an average of one hour a day.
Microsoft also announced that Canadian Xbox 360 owners can now download two more video apps: Astral Media’s Disney XD and Real Sports. German Xbox 360 owners can also add the Mediathek/ZDF media app starting today.
Microsoft plans to add a number of other video and entertainment apps for Xbox Live users in 2012, including HBOGO and Crackle for US users.