42% of Xbox Live Subscribers Stream 30 Hours of Video Each Month

42% of Xbox Live Subscribers Stream 30 Hours of Video Each Month

By Jim O’Neil for TheConvergence.TV

Gaming consoles may be losing ground to dedicated streaming set-top boxes like Roku and Apple TV, but they retain an important place in the content ecosystem.

Speaking at Microsoft’s annual meeting with financial analysts Thursday, COO Kevin Turner said 42% of its subscribers to Xbox Live watch at least 30 hours of video each week using the service.

On top of that, he said, two of five users are women, a number likely to open some eyes on Madison Avenue. Game consoles were thought to be overwhelming male, with the new numbers from Microsoft, it looks like brands may have a new way to get targeted advertising to women. Considering Xbox Live has about 48 million users (about half of whom pay $40 to $60 for an annual membership to Xbox Live Gold), those numbers are pretty strong. And, with the new Xbox One set to arrive in November, those subscriptions should increase.

Xbox actually functions pretty well as a set-top box. Gold members get access to Hulu Plus, Netflix, MLB.tv, Amazon Instant Video, Crackle, ESPN3 and NBA League Pass. The downside, however, is that your streaming services are behind that $40-$60 paywall, something Microsoft isn’t likely to change with Xbox One.

This is an excerpt. Click here to read the full article in TheConvergence.TV