The findings echo recent statistics issued by web-monitoring firm Hitwise, who said that UK traffic to online video websites increased by 178 per cent between February 2007 and February 2008.

ISP PlusNet has already reported a surge in demand from its customers for the iPlayer service. Dave Tomlinson of PlusNet wrote that it had seen a 66 per cent growth in volume of streaming traffic since the beginning of December.

Moneysupermarket.com hailed the impact that on-demand services were already having on our lives.

Rob Barnes, head of broadband at Moneysupermarket.com said: "We no longer have to worry about recording programmes or having to sit through reality shows. People can now create their own TV schedules as content becomes instantly available in just a few clicks."

Barnes said that the demand for these services would grow.

"The appetite for this type of service will continue to grow over the next few years as more and more content is offered to customers upon request. I wouldn't be surprised if we started to see exclusive content on these services in an attempt to attract new viewers. Whatever happens, ODTV is great news for TV fans," he said.

However, it's not all good news - the increased demands placed on the UK's internet infrastructure by the large amounts of data required to provide on-demand services could be catastrophic, some have warned.

The increased cost for ISPs is one key area of concern - PlusNet's Tomlinson said that the cost of carrying streaming traffic increased from £17,233 to £51,700 per month since December.

Another problem is that the network could become overloaded with traffic, slowing it down for many subscribers.

There is also the possibility that broadband customers could inadvertantly exceed their download limits as dictated by the contracts they have signed up to.

Web User highlighted these issues last year when Channel 4's 4oD first launched.

Read Web User's guide to video-on-demand.

www.moneysupermarket.com
www.plus.net
www.hitwise.com
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

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