1.6m of Virgin's television customers, representing nearly half its TV customer base, use video on demand services, it was revealed today.

The company, which saw net TV customer additions of 24,800 in the second quarter of the year, reported that average views of video on demand content per month were 24, compared to 14 during the same period last year.

"During the quarter, we launched the BBC’s iPlayer service on our VOD platform offering hundreds of hours of BBC 'catch-up' content," Virgin explained. "Virgin Media is the first TV platform to make BBC iPlayer available in full screen picture quality directly to its 3.4m digital TV subscribers. Developments like this give VOD a new impetus and help establish on-demand as a genuinely mainstream TV service."

Virgin added that V+, its high definition PVR product, is now taken by 424,900 customers - 13% of its digital television subscriber base. However, the company continues to offer only a single linear high definition service, preferring to emphasise high definition content in its on demand lineup.